Suit was filed earlier this month in a New York federal district court by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan against the Anti-Defamation League and the Simon Wiesenthal Center seeking $4.8 billion in damages. The suit alleges that defendants are interfering with Farrakhan's activities through labeling him as an antisemite. The complaint (full text) in Farrakhan v. Anti-Defamation League, (SD NY, filed 10/16/2023), alleges violations of the First Amendment's protections for freedom of association and free exercise of religion, as well as alleging causes of action for defamation. The complaint contends that the Anti-Defamation Leage is a "de facto, quasi-governmental actor", alleging in part:
344.... [O]n or about December 20, 2022, the Defendant ADL submitted a demand letter directly to the Office of Management and Budget ... for funds it desired to be redirected from programs and services that benefit the average American citizen to its own coffers to be used as it sees fit....
345.Extraordinarily, that same demand letter brazenly commanded the OMB to allocate funds to other agencies and departments of the U.S. government that it, and/or its functionaries, would directly benefit from....
348.Based upon the regulations of the U.S. government, Defendant ADL’s fiscal appropriations demand made directly to the OMB incontrovertibly establishes it as a quasi-governmental agency....
More generally, the complaint says in part:
2. For nearly forty (40) years, the Anti-Defamation League ..., later joined by the Simon Wiesenthal Center ..., in violation of the rights and protections guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, have engaged in actions to hinder Minister Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam from continuing the Mission that Allah (God) gave to the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
3. That Mission, accepted by Minister Farrakhan, is to deliver the Truth that will correct the condition of spiritual, mental and moral death of the black man and woman of America that came as a result of the 310 years of chattel slavery and over 150 years of oppression and suppression, thereafter....
6. This lawsuit is to ensure that the abuse, misuse, and false use of the terms “anti-Semite,” “anti-Semitic,” and “antisemitism,” as falsely charged by the Defendants is permanently barred from being a tool to defame Plaintiffs and stifle the exercise of constitutional rights.
The Forward reports on the lawsuit.
