McMaster’s Final Humiliation: Federal Smack Down (Restraining Order Below)

22
May

McMaster’s Final Humiliation: Federal Smack Down (Restraining Order Below)

author: editor category: TechCrunch

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster gets served his final humiliation: a federal judge, U.S. District Judge Weston Houck, blocked him from prosecuting Craigslist management, at least until he’s made a final decision on the case. From the order: “Until the Court rules on the merits of craigslist’s claims, Defendants and their attorneys and staffs shall refrain from initiating or pursuing any prosecution against craigslist or its officers and employees in relation to content posted by third parties on craigslist’s website.”

The consent order granting the restraining order is embedded below.

McMaster started the war earlier this month by threatening criminal prosecution against Craigslist and Craigslist management for allowing pornographic images and ads for prostitution on the South Carolina Craigslist site. Craigslist took extraordinary steps to comply with McMaster’s demands, despite the fact that legal experts questioned if McMaster even had a case.

Craigslist stood firm and filed suit against McMaster in federal court. McMaster, now facing charges of his own, declared victory and ran away.

This final humiliation just makes it clear that no one on the planet with a shred of common sense seems to side with McMaster. The man is running for governor of South Carolina and is using Craigslist to make headlines. The evidence of his douchery is overwhelming:

His office has never prosecuted a prostitution case in his seven years in office.
McMaster ignored sites with far more prostitution listings to go after the higher profile Craigslist.
The EFF says “Attorney General Henry McMaster has no case”
Local South Carolina press ripped him apart.
Techdirt calls McMaster a liar
80% of our readers would rather lose South Carolina than Craigslist
South Carolina residents seem to agree.

I’d say we’re done here, although I still think Craigslist should permanently shut down the South Carolina site and ban South Carolina IP addresses just out of spite. But the good guys won one today, which is increasingly infrequent. Time to celebrate.

Update: In other South Carolina news, they found that missing 555 pound teenager. Sigh.

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