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7 Pace Envtl. L. Rev. 23 (1989-1990)
The SLAPP from a Sociological Perspective

handle is hein.journals/penv7 and id is 29 raw text is: The SLAPP from a Sociological Perspective* Penelope Canan, Ph.D.** I. Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) involve the use of litigation to derail political claims, moving a public debate from the political arena to the judicial arena, where the playing field appears more advanta- geous.1 Because the courts are being used in reaction to efforts to influence governance, the lawsuits violate the Constitu- tional safeguard of political speech that is guaranteed in the petition clause of the first amendment.2 * This address was presented during Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) - Protecting Property or Intimidating Citizens, the Fall Colloquium of the Pace University School of Law's Center for Environmental Legal Studies, co-sponsored by the Environmental Law Committee of the Westchester County Bar Association, White Plains, New York, October 14, 1989. This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Law and Social Science Program under Grant No. SES-8714495. The author thanks George W. Pring, Professor of Law, University of Denver College of Law, Nicholas A. Robinson, Professor of Law, Pace University School of Law, and Reid T. Reynolds, Colorado State Demographer, for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. Copyright 0 1990 by George W. Pring and Penelope Canan. All rights reserved. This and the article by Professor Pring are adapted from the authors' forthcoming book, tentatively entitled, GETTING SUED FOR SPEAKING OUT. ** Penelope Canan is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Denver where she received her M.A. (1972) and Ph.D. (1976). She is the co-principal investigator of the Political Litigation Project, sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Her work, combining the sociology of law, community and politics, has been published in the LAW & SOCIETY REVIEW, SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES, SOCIAL PROBLEMS, and SOCIOLOGICAL INQUIRY. Her applied sociological research regarding the social impacts of proposed industrial projects - from utility rate hikes to geothermal development to rapid transit systems - has been commissioned by private industry and governments across the nation. 1. See P. Canan and G. W. Pring, Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participa- tion, 35 Soc. PROBS. 506 (1988). 2. The petition clause guarantees the right of the people ... to petition the

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