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« Heroin economics | Main | Neglected news stories? » Thursday, December 28, 2006Washingtonian justiceYesterday brought the news that a civil suit brought by a former IRS attorney and current law professor at University of Arkansas-Little Rock against Jessica Cutler, the writer behind the sex-on-the-Hill blog Washingtonienne, is headed to trial. Robert Steinbuch is suing Cutler for $20 million for chronicling in great detail the sexual relationship between them when she was a young D.C. staffer for Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio. (After the hugely popular Washington gossip blog Wonkette linked to Washingtonienne, the story went national and Cutler was fired from her job ... but got a book deal.) At The Volokh Conspiracy, Eugene Volokh points out the unusual nature of the case: it is "a 'civil action for invasion of privacy for public revelation of private facts,' not a defamation claim." Volokh adds, "Nothing in this lawsuit will 'restore [Steinbuch's] good name,'" which I would call beyond dispute, adding that the extra publicity won't help at all in that department. It will be interesting to see, too, if Steinbuch's argument, which seems to butt up against the First Amendment, can gain any traction. A victory of any kind for him would be a serious threat to prurient, revelatory bloggers everywhere, not that we need more of them. Posted by Evan Hughes at 11:34 AM
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