Public Citizen last week announced the filing of two motions in a pending California case in which Rabbi Mordecai Tendler, who was accused of sexually propositioning women who came to him seeking spiritual guidance, is trying to force Google to disclose the identities of four anonymous bloggers. (Full text of motions 1, 2.) Concerned about First Amendment issues, Public Citizen is urging the court to adopt a balancing test for these kinds of cases.
Tendler, who denies the charges against him, has been expelled from the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America and was later sued for sexual harassment a former congregant. He is seeking to learn the identities of four bloggers who wrote about his case on: rabbinicintergrity.blogspot.com/, jewishsurvivors.blogspot.com/, jewishwhistleblower.blogspot.com/ and newhempsteadnews.blogspot.com. Tendler claims that defamatory materials about him have been posted. A report in today's Forward says that blogs and message boards are increasingly being used by Orthodox Jewish women to report allegations of sexual misconduct by rabbis.
