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Hear, hear, Public Citizen!

By James M. Beck and Mark Herrmann

We don't often type the words that comprise the title of today's post.

Given the opportunity, we just couldn't resist.

Kathleen Seidel hosts the neurodiversity.com blog, in which she critiques the evidence supporting, and litigation over, whether vaccines cause autism. Seidel sees no link, which naturally infuriates the plaintiffs' bar.

Earlier this month, Clifford Shoemaker, a plaintiff's lawyer in the vaccine litigation, served a subpoena on Ms. Seidel demanding that she produce basically every document relating to her blog, including e-mail correspondence, bank records, and information about her use of research tools, such as Lexis and Pacer. That story has been covered widely in the blogosphere, including at Overlawyered, the Legal Blog Watch, the New York Personal Injury Law Blog, and elsewhere.

No matter where you come out on the merits of requiring the production of those materials, we can surely agree that Ms. Seidel is entitled to top-notch legal representation to help her present the first amendment and other possible defenses to the subpoena.

We're pleased to tell you that our frequent opponents from Public Citizen volunteered for the task.

Public Citizen's first amendment team has now volunteered to represent Ms. Seidel on a pro bono basis.

Good for you, Public Citizen!

We express no opinion on whether the position you're advocating on behalf of Ms. Seidel is right or wrong, but we salute you for providing the legal representation that she deserves.

Full post as published by Drug and Device Law on April 21, 2008 (boomark / email).