Judge sides with Moms for Liberty leader, teacher's defamation claim thrown out
A Wisconsin Moms for Liberty leader won her appeal to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed against her by a former teacher disgruntled by social media posts made about her by the conservative activist mom of five.
Mary MacCudden, a former faculty member in the Mequon-Thiensville School District, filed a lawsuit against Scarlett Johnson, who serves as a Moms for Liberty Ozaukee County Chair, in October 2022 after coming across a social media post made by Johnson which include a screenshot of McCudden's LinkedIn profile. Johnson was calling in to question MacCudden's listed position as a "Social Justice Coordinator" in the school district.
“[w]hy the hell am I paying for a ‘Social Justice Coordinator’ in my school district?” Johnson wrote in accompaniment with the photo. “[t]his is just what @mtschools needs; more woke, white women w/ a god complex. Thank you, white savior.”
Johnson replied to a comment to her post, criticizing diversity, equity and inclusion specialists' presence in schools.
"Parents know these woke lunatics are bullies," Johnson wrote. "They are bullying you into silence and compliance. Good teachers should earn more, get support & feel safe."
MacCudden resigned from her position at the school in January that year, but she did not update her LinkedIn. Nonetheless, she filed a lawsuit against Wilson, arguing that Johnson "knew or should have known that one or more of her statements were false" and that "all" were made "with express malice."
But three years after MacCudden filed her complaint in Milwaukee County Circuit Court, an appeals court ruled in favor of Johnson.
Deputy Chief Judge M. Joseph Donald wrote in the majority opinion that Johnson's comments were just her opinion. Donald said the terms "lunatic" and "bully" are subjective and terms like "woke" and "white savior" don't have a concrete definition to determine if Johnson's use of them were true or false.
"Johnson was not commenting on MacCudden’s teaching record or qualifications," Donald wrote. "Further, Johnson did not indicate that she had any personal experience with MacCudden or was basing her statements on anything other than what she disclosed from her LinkedIn profile."
Johnson said her comments in the social media post weren't even a personal attack on MacCudden but rather was her criticizing DEI specialists in general.
"This wasn't about the person," she told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "It was about the position [of social justice coordinator] and the taxpayer-funded status of that position in my mind. I was against DEI and these types of jobs in my school district."