Shirley Sherrod Case Against Andrew Breitbart Begins - HuffPo

A year to the day after Shirley Sherrod was ousted from the Agriculture Department, the former government employee is still seeking vindication.

On July 19, 2010, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack ordered Sherrod’s resignation from her job as a Georgia rural development official after learning about a video of Sherrod making supposedly racist remarks.

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The video on Andrew Breitbart’s website turned out to be edited, and when Sherrod’s full speech to an NAACP group earlier that year came to light, it became clear that her remarks about an initial reluctance to help a white farmer were not racist but an attempt at telling a story of racial reconciliation. Once that was obvious to everyone, Sherrod received public apologies from the administration – even from President Barack Obama himself – and an offer to come back to the USDA, which she declined.

Sherrod is now suing Breitbart, his employee Larry O’Connor and an unnamed “John Doe” defendant for “defamation, false light and intentional infliction of emotional distress.” Sherrod’s lawyers say the unnamed defendant is the person who they believe passed the video on to Breitbart.

The suit asks for damages but does not specify an amount. The complaint says the incident has affected Sherrod’s sleep and caused her back pain. It contends that she was damaged by having her “integrity, impartiality and motivations questioned, making it difficult (if not impossible) for her to continue her life’s work assisting poor farmers in rural areas” even though she was invited to come back to the Agriculture Department.

Lawyers for Breitbart and O’Connor have called the suit an assault on free speech and charge that Sherrod is seeking “revenge” on Breitbart because she does not like his politics. In one brief, they quote Sherrod saying on CNN shortly after she was ousted that Breitbart is “one person I’d like to get back at.”

High-res It’s so nice to see a true journalist like Andrew Breitbart being accepted by MSM: “For a news junkie like me, this is like touring Yankee Stadium” - Andrew Breitbart in the AP newsroom. - bfouhy “[Andrew] Breitbart has taken flack for using misleading editing in the ACORN pimp scandal, the Shirley Sherrod scandal and the NPR scandal. But after this [the Anthony Weiner scandal] he’s 1 for 4.” - Stephen Colbert

It’s so nice to see a true journalist like Andrew Breitbart being accepted by MSM:

“For a news junkie like me, this is like touring Yankee Stadium” - Andrew Breitbart in the AP newsroom. - bfouhy

“[Andrew] Breitbart has taken flack for using misleading editing in the ACORN pimp scandal, the Shirley Sherrod scandal and the NPR scandal. But after this [the Anthony Weiner scandal] he’s 1 for 4.” - Stephen Colbert

“At a time when the GOP is playing games with the debt limit, a member of the Supreme Court is refusing to recuse himself from matters he has a financial interest in, and middle class incomes are stagnant, many want to change the subject. I don’t. This was a prank, and a silly one. I’m focused on my work.”

Rep. Anthony Weiner • Trying to draw a line in the sand on this whole Weinergate story, which has certainly gotten a bit crazier over the past day. The Atlantic Wire has a roundup of the story, which has gotten to the point of farce. CNN also got Weiner on camera today, where he seemed at least a little annoyed to be taking the questions. But ultimately, though, this piece of evidence (grabbed by Soup) is the strongest against Weiner doing anything wrong. Also, has anyone noticed how Mediaite has kinda gone crazy over this story? We love the site and everything, but they got a Photoshop expert to analyze the photo. A bit much, eh? They’re not the only ones, but you know what, we’re going to leave this mess alone for a while. The EXIF data is good enough for us. source (via • follow)