The News: The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) is defending a Wisconsin mother after the School District of Pittsville, Wisconsin threatened her with a potential defamation lawsuit and police visited her home, based on her social media post. The letter from the lawyer representing the school district is an attempt to intimidate a parent for criticizing the school district and came after the parent posted online about what the mother saw as the exclusion of her disabled daughter at a school-sponsored music program.
The Quotes: WILL Deputy Counsel, Cory Brewer, stated, “This letter was outrageous. School district lawyers should know better than to threaten parents for raising concerns about their child’s education and treatment by the school. We will not tolerate intimidation tactics that chill free speech or attempt to silence families who are advocating for their children.”
Why This Isn’t Defamation: The school district through their legal counsel has not identified a single statement that this mother included in her post that could possibly meet the legal standard for defamation under Wisconsin law. As Wisconsin courts have made clear, defamation requires a false statement of fact, communicated to a third party, that is unprivileged and capable of defamatory meaning. Wagner v. Allen Media Broad., 2024 WI App 9, ¶ 21, 410 Wis. 2d 666, 685, 3 N.W.3d 758, 768. Criticism, opinion, and advocacy by parents do not meet that standard.
The School District Cannot Sue for Defamation: Under the First Amendment, the school district, as a governmental body, cannot sue for defamation. The U.S. Supreme Court has long recognized that “prosecutions for libel on government have (no) place in the American system of jurisprudence.” New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 299, 84 S. Ct. 710, 736, 11 L. Ed. 2d 686 (1964)
WILL’s Record of Winning Defamation Cases: WILL has a strong record of defending parents and citizens targeted for speaking out against government entities. Most recently, a Wisconsin Court of Appeals ruled in favor of WILL’s client, Scarlett Johnson, a Wisconsin Moms for Liberty activist who was sued for defamation after making a statement of opinion and criticism related to her school district. The Court agreed with WILL that Scarlett’s posts were protected by the First Amendment.
Read More:
- School District Letter to Parent, December 2025
- WILL Response Letter, January 2026
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