{"id":2648308,"date":"2026-08-22T11:15:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T15:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/court-sides-with-conservative-activist-james-okeefe-in-first-amendment-case\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T11:20:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T15:20:45","slug":"court-sides-with-conservative-activist-james-okeefe-in-first-amendment-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/court-sides-with-conservative-activist-james-okeefe-in-first-amendment-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Court sides with conservative activist James O&#8217;Keefe in First Amendment case"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcourt-sides-with-conservative-activist-james-okeefe-in-first-amendment-case%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2648308&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A Washington, D.C. appeals court ruled in favor of conservative activist James O\u2019Keefe (founder of Project Veritas) in a First Amendment-related case involving undercover videos he published. Teh case centered around videos exposing Democratic operatives inciting violence at Trump rallies during the 2016 election.O\u2019Keefe appealed a 2022 jury decision that awarded Democratic consultant Democracy Partners $130,000 in damages for fraudulent misrepresentation adn wiretapping, and the court ultimately dismissed the damages award, partially siding with O\u2019keefe. The court concluded that the damages violated the First Amendment as thay penalized the publication of a news story, despite acknowledging that some videos obtained through alleged fraud were not protected. O\u2019Keefe celebrated the ruling, emphasizing the importance of undercover journalism and the right to misrepresent oneself to uncover the truth. Democracy Partners\u2019 representatives expressed disappointment and are considering their next steps. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/double-murderer-whom-biden-sprung-from-death-row-is-now-demanding-an-even-bigger-gift\/\" title=\"Double Murderer Whom Biden Sprung from Death Row Is Now Demanding an Even Bigger Gift\">case highlights ongoing debates<\/a> about the limits of undercover journalism and First Amendment protections.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/washington-dc\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"260\">Washington, D.C.<\/a>, appeals court sided with conservative activist James O\u2019Keefe in a case revolving around <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/711776\/video-democratic-activists-admit-to-inciting-violence-at-trump-events\/\">undercover video clips<\/a> he published regarding Democratic consultant-backed violence outside <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"4\">Donald Trump<\/a> campaign rallies during the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/2016-elections\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"5\">2016 presidential election<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">O\u2019Keefe, the founder and former CEO of Project Veritas, had appealed a lower court\u2019s 2022 jury decision to award the Democratic consultant targeted by his media company\u2019s undercover video $130,000 in damages based on claims of fraudulent misrepresentation and wiretapping. O\u2019Keefe\u2019s appeal proved successful on Friday, when the three-judge panel agreed, with one judge dissenting in part, to discard the $130,000 damages judgment.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4697233\/james-okeefe-first-amendment-case\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Court sides with conservative activist James O\u2019Keefe in First Amendment case<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4696859\/doj-tiktok-pay-government-settlement-child-privacy-act-illegal-information-collecting\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>DOJ settles with TikTok for $400 million over child safety and privacy concerns<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4696784\/polymarket-dozens-military-insider-trading-cases-doj\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Polymarket flags dozens of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/polymarket-flags-dozens-of-military-insider-trading-cases-to-doj-report\/\" title=\"Polymarket flags dozens of military insider trading cases to DOJ: Report\">military insider trading cases<\/a> to DOJ: Report<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/711776\/video-democratic-activists-admit-to-inciting-violence-at-trump-events\/\">VIDEO: DEMOCRATIC ACTIVISTS ADMIT TO INCITING VIOLENCE AT TRUMP EVENTS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-15\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Project Veritas published the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/711776\/video-democratic-activists-admit-to-inciting-violence-at-trump-events\/\">video<\/a>, called \u201cRigging the Election,\u201d ahead of the 2016 election between Trump and <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/hillary-clinton\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"8\">Hillary Clinton<\/a>, arguing that a scheme of Democratic operatives, including Democracy Partners, founded by Robert Creamer, had sought to incite violence at Trump rallies throughout the election. The video compiled a series of clips taken by Project Veritas\u2019s undercover reporters and several clips recorded by an employee named Alison Maass, who had gone undercover to get hired as an unpaid intern at Democracy Partners.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Creamer, the husband of Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/10\/18\/politics\/project-veritas-action-robert-creamer-donald-trump-rallies\/\">stepped back<\/a> from his election work after the fallout from the video spread throughout mainstream election coverage, including reaching the presidential debate stage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Creamer\u2019s group then sued O\u2019Keefe and Maass over the video and their means of achieving the undercover clips. After a federal jury in the District of Columbia ruled in favor of Democracy Partners, O\u2019Keefe and Maass appealed, arguing the damages violated their First Amendment rights to freedom of the press. Circuit Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, sided with the Project Veritas reporters.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-16\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-2\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe principal question in this appeal is whether the jury\u2019s damages award violated the First Amendment by punishing the defendants for publishing a news story,\u201d Henderson <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/media.cadc.uscourts.gov\/opinions\/docs\/2026\/08\/25-7080-2189338.pdf\">wrote<\/a>. \u201cWe conclude that it did. The separate issue is whether, under D.C. law, one of the media defendants became the fiduciary of her own news target by tricking him into hiring her as an unpaid intern. We conclude that she did not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, Henderson and the two other judges in the case, Carter appointee Harry Edwards and Obama appointee Robert Wilkins, did agree that the videos Maass obtained were gathered fraudulently and not protected by the First Amendment. But this did not bear an impact on the court\u2019s decision about the video overall, since they concluded that the recording mostly complied with \u201clawfully obtained\u201d footage from other undercover Project Veritas reporters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wilkins dissented in part from Henderson and Edwards on the belief that the panel should \u201caffirm the jury\u2019s finding of liability for fraudulent misrepresentation and remit the damages award to a nominal amount,\u201d instead of stripping back the full damages.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-17\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-3\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">O\u2019Keefe celebrated the appeals court decision, saying, \u201cToday, my faith in the future of journalism and in our courts is restored.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4572043\/comey-clinton-emails-case-trump-election\/\">COMEY SAYS HE WOULD STILL REOPEN CLINTON EMAIL PROBE DESPITE TRUMP ELECTION<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis case has profound impact on the First Amendment and undercover journalism at large,\u201d O\u2019Keefe <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JamesOKeefeIII\/status\/2091002410240032983?s=20\">said<\/a>. \u201cThe right of an undercover journalist to misrepresent themselves in order to bring you the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-25\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-4\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An attorney representing Creamer and Democracy Partners <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/08\/21\/james-okeefe-appeal-democratic-operative-sting-01046426\">told<\/a> <em>Politico<\/em> that they were \u201cdisappointed in the ruling and do not believe the appeal was correctly decided,\u201d adding that they are \u201cevaluating next steps.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Court sides with O\u2019Keefe; damages overturned in 2016 videos case<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3976,"featured_media":2648309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/adee3169f6a9a52c15cae4073cee2791-scaled-e1787410438578.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[33740,33332,33068,59421,84542],"class_list":["post-2648308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-court-ruling","tag-first-amendment","tag-freedom-of-speech","tag-james-okeefe","tag-legalcase"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/adee3169f6a9a52c15cae4073cee2791-scaled-e1787410438578.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2648308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3976"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2648308"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2648308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2648313,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2648308\/revisions\/2648313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2648309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2648308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2648308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2648308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}