From Commercial Appeal via hawkhead at biglawboard
Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin and the city of Memphis have filed a lawsuit to learn who operates a blog harshly critical of Godwin and his department.
The lawsuit asks AOL to produce all information related to the identity of an e-mail address linked to MPD Enforcer 2.0, a blog popular with police officers that has been extremely critical of police leadership at 201 Poplar.
“In what could be a landmark case of privacy and the 1st Amendment,” the anonymous bloggers write on the site, “Godwin has illegally used his position and the City of Memphis as a ram to ruin the Constitution of the United States. (source)
There is a suggestion that this may have something to do with stopping investigation leaks, so I’ll reserve judgment for the moment. However, it certainly looks like an angry public figure stomping on the First Amendment. Comments from anyone who knows more about the case are invited.
