A federal judge says he intends to dismiss a lawsuit accusing Black Lives Matter and several movement leaders of inciting violence that led to a gunman’s deadly ambush of law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge last year.
U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson issued that warning in an order Wednesday, less than a week after ruling Black Lives Matter is a social movement and therefore can’t be sued.
Last Thursday, Jackson threw out a police officer’s lawsuit blaming Black Lives Matter and movement leader DeRay Mckesson for injuries he sustained during a protest over a deadly police shooting in Baton Rouge last year. The officer’s lawyer also attempted to add “#BlackLivesMatter” as a defendant, but Jackson ruled a hashtag can’t be sued either.
Now the judge is vowing to dismiss a separate suit filed on behalf of a sheriff’s deputy wounded in the July 2016 attack that killed three other officers in Baton Rouge.
The same Baton Rouge-based attorney, Donna Grodner, filed both suits. The judge is giving her until Oct. 13 to respond to his order and present arguments why the deputy’s case shouldn’t be dismissed.
Grodner declined to comment Thursday on the judge’s order or say whether she plans to appeal last week’s ruling.
