A Georgia law preventing the state from doing business with anyone promoting a boycott of Israel violates the First Amendment, a federal judge ruled.
United States District Court Judge Mark Cohen ruled Friday that the law, which was passed in 2016, violated the rights of filmmaker and journalist Abby Martin.
The law “prohibits inherently expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment, burdens Martin’s right to free speech, and is not narrowly tailored to further a substantial state interest,” Cohen said in his decision.
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Martin sued Georgia Southern University officials and University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley in 2020 after they canceled an event she was supposed to speak at because she did not agree to sign the paperwork required by law, which included a clause that forbade her from engaging in boycotts of Israel.
“Even assuming that Georgia’s interest in furthering foreign policy goals regarding relations with Israel is a substantial state interest, Defendants fail to explain how Martin’s advocacy of a boycott of Israel has any bearing on Georgia’s ability to advance foreign policy goals with Israel,” he wrote.
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Martin said in a statement that she is “thrilled at the judge’s decision to strike down this law that so clearly violates the free speech rights of myself and so many others in Georgia. My first amendment rights were restricted on behalf of a foreign government, which flies in the face of the principle of freedom and democracy.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which represented Martin in the lawsuit, said 26 states have passed similar measures to prevent the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction movement, which seeks to encourage an economic boycott of Israeli goods until Palestinians’ livelihoods improve.
