The Unknown Episode 33: Richard Luthmann, Dr. Jill Jones Soderman and I discuss free press in New Jersey
We were all swept up in a bizarre case where a divorce lawyer asked a family court judge to remove our articles which were already published.
Richard Luthmann and I were back discussing Marie LePen’s conviction, the border being secure, Trump’s use of the Aliens Enemies Act (AEA), and Elon Musk’s private life going Maury Povich.
In the What the Hales segment, we discussed my recent article on my {former friend} Megan Fox who coopted two alleged astroturfers to bad mouth me.
About an hour and twenty-five minutes in, we welcomed Dr. Jill Jones Soderman back to the program. All three of us were swept into a child custody case in New Jersey. That’s because an attorney named Jessica Sprague asked a judge to order all of us to remove articles already published because they painted her client, J. Bradley Badal, in a bad light.
Sprague asked for an order removing our articles. The filing took shots at Dr. Soderman- accusing her of practicing law without a license and having her social worker license revoked. The first charge seems dubious, based on her explanation, while the second is accurate, though she defended herself and called the process faulty.
The filing also accused Richard of writing defamatory articles about Badal. Richard defended himself, but if the articles are defamatory, there is another process Mr. Badal can take to litigate.
He has not yet chosen that route; instead, he asked New Jersey Superior Court Judge James Farber to issue an order to remove all the questionable articles.
The hearing for this was held on Monday March 31, 2025. Fortunately, Judge Farber stood up, unequivocally, for the first amendment.
