FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Katherine Paul, katherine@childrenshealthdefense.org; 207-653-3090

SEATTLE – Nov. 8, 2021 – A lawsuit filed today against Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) alleges the senator violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by seeking to stop booksellers from selling and/or promoting the plaintiffs’ book, “The Truth About COVID-19: Exposing the Great Reset, Lockdowns, Vaccine Passports, and the New Normal.”

The book’s co-authors, Dr. Joseph Mercola and Ronald Cummins, along with author of the foreword, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and publisher, Chelsea Green Publishing, Inc., filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

The complaint relates to a letter Warren wrote to Amazon.com, the world’s largest bookseller, warning Amazon’s “peddling” of plaintiffs’ book is “potentially unlawful.”

The letter does not specify what laws Amazon is “potentially” breaking.

According to the complaint, in Bantam Books v. Sullivan, the U.S. Supreme Court held  state officials violated the First Amendment by sending letters to booksellers warning the sale of certain books was potentially unlawful.

Plaintiffs allege Warren’s letter contained blatant falsehoods and unsubstantiated accusations about the book and that Warren’s claims, even if correct, would not alter the book’s constitutional protectedness.

Ronnie Cummins, co-founder of the Organic Consumers Association, said: “Constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech is necessary if we are to achieve a system of participatory democracy and solve the interrelated crises that threaten our survival — health, food, environment, climate, politics.”

“Senator Warren broke the law and betrayed our fundamental right to free speech,” said Dr. Joseph Mercola, founder of Mercola.com, a natural health website. “No politician is above the law, I will do everything in my power to defend my constitutional rights as an American.”

“The government trying to ban books is a very dangerous slippery slope to totalitarianism and cannot be allowed,” said Margo Baldwin, Chelsea Green president and publisher.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., chairman and founder of Children’s Health Defense, said: “If a government can hide what it’s doing by censoring its opponents and silencing dissonants, it has license to do anything it wants.”

Copy of the complaint available here.

Organic Consumers Association is a 501(c)(3) consumer education and grassroots lobbying organization advocating on behalf of millions of consumers for safe, healthful food and a clean environment.