My SLAPP bill passed the House today, 96-36.

As you may recall, a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation is a meritless lawsuit filed to silence opposition and prevent an individual or group from exercising their First Amendment rights.

Why did 36 of my Republican colleagues vote against it?

The lobbyist for Maryland Right To Life opposed the bill, with a misguided argument that it would be used to silence pro-lifers.

No one made that argument on the House floor.  They just voted no.

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Walter Dellinger, a leading constitutional scholar and practitioner, died this week.

At a symposium celebrating the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution in 1987, Dellinger stated:

“We need to recall that the Constitutional Convention was an event whose immediate success rested in part upon one literally unspeakable compromise of principle.”

He was referring, of course, to the continuation of slavery.

If Dellinger said that today, in certain Republican-governed states, would he be in violation of the law?