IT’S ABOUT AS SOUND AS FOX’S SUIT AGAINST AL FRANKEN: Former Senator James Abourezk is suing a website that called him a “traitor.” Roll Call reports:

Legal experts are in seemingly universal agreement that Abourezk’s case will not succeed. Law professor and First Amendment specialist Eugene Volokh, who has joined an amicus brief filed on Marino’s behalf, calls it “one of the 99 percent of all cases that will never be assigned a precedent,” arguing that the case covers “settled law” on free speech.

Broadly speaking, politicians are among the last public figures protected from even the most baseless charges. Abourezk, nevertheless, has cast himself as the champion of free speech in this matter. “You can’t use the First Amendment to club someone else over the head so they can’t speak,” said Abourezk’s lawyer, Todd Epp, who likened the charge of “traitor” to that of “child molester” and other such criminal ilk.

Calling people names isn’t “silencing” them. Abourezk is a traitor to the First Amendment, at the very least. Here’s my earlier post on his suit. Meanwhile the South Dakota Politics blog has an update, with links to the briefs.