Meanwhile, in Georgia:

"In a court victory with First Amendment implications, the Supreme Court of Georgia has ruled that the state's anti-SLAPP statute protects a speaker from being sued for defamation for criticizing a public official, unless the speaker was aware their statements were probably false.

"The Georgia Supreme Court further held that the speaker's failure to exhaustively investigate before making the critical statements does not establish a reckless disregard for the truth. This decision reinforces Georgia's anti-SLAPP statute.

"Strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs, once emboldened litigants seeking to use groundless defamation and other claims to chill free speech in Georgia. With its Oct. 19 opinion in ACLU v. Zeh, the state's highest court corrected a lower court decision that would have weakened free-speech protections codified by Georgia's anti-SLAPP statute."