DETROIT, Mich.—A federal judge in Detroit on Dec. 27 lifted the temporary restraining order blocking the far-right scam-video
outfit Project Veritas from releasing images its spy obtained after using a false name to get an internship at the Michigan American Federation of Teachers. District Judge Linda Parker said that while the AFT would likely win its suit against Project Veritas and undercover operative Marisa Jorge on the grounds that she cheated it by using a false identity, the union had not proved that any information she obtained would do it enough harm to satisfy the strict criteria for allowing “prior restraint” of publication. A Wayne County judge had issued the order in September against Project Veritas, which in November tried to get the Washington Post to publish an operative’s bogus claim that she’d had an abortion after Alabama senatorial candidate Roy Moore got her pregnant when she was 15. “We understand that Judge Parker chose to show deference to free speech,” AFT President Randi Weingarten and AFT Michigan President David Hecker said in a joint statement, but they contended that the ruling “established a strong foundation for our longer-term goal of protecting students, teachers, and families in Michigan from the abusive actions of Project Veritas” and “supports our position that we have a right of action the moment Project Veritas publishes anything illegally obtained by its operative Marisa Jorge.”
