Lawyers representing pro-life activist and citizen journalist David Daleiden returned to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday, where oral arguments were heard for why he should regain control of 500 hours of undercover video footage he recorded at the National Abortion Federation (NAF) meetings in 2014 and 2015. The footage in question features Planned Parenthood employees and other abortion industry representatives discussing the sales of aborted baby body parts, and much of it has never been released to the public.
Representing Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), attorney Heather Hacker asked the court to reverse and vacate the injunction that was issued late one Friday night in 2015 by District Judge William Orrick at the request of NAF, the largest abortion trade group in North America. Orrick ruled that the safety of abortion workers (NAF’s members) outweighed Daleiden’s First Amendment rights.
Daleiden is not just barred from publishing the footage but does not even currently possess the footage, which is at the center of an ongoing criminal case against him.
Hacker argued that the injunction not only violates Daleiden’s First Amendment rights, but at a minimum, is overbroad considering much of the footage was recorded in public settings. In a previous criminal case against Daleiden for the same recordings, charges were dismissed because the court determined there was no expectation of privacy in many of the recording locations such as hotel lobbies and restaurants.
The three-judge panel seemed most interested in how they should weigh the nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements Daleiden signed, and ultimately violated, in order to attend the conference where his undercover filming occurred. They pressed both Hacker and NAF’s lawyers on whether the “clear and compelling evidence” standard had been met, one way or the other, by the contracts Daleiden signed and breached.
Of the two contracts breached, Sorenson argued that the “clear and convincing standard” is met “by the exhibition contract alone,” he said, arguing that the contract “makes clear an attendee cannot disclose to any third party any information that they learn in the course of attending the conference.”
Hacker countered that the agreement Daleiden signed, “defines confidential information, not as all information that you receive at the conference, but instead, as ‘information that NAF may furnish.’” The content of these recordings, she said, is largely not information furnished by NAF, but “casual business conversations that were held between individuals attending the conference.”
Full story at The Federalist.
He signed nondisclosure agreements. He violated them. Case closed. He’s wrong. Next.
No. You have no moral conscience. Abortion and trafficking in baby body parts is a horrible crime.
It is well-known, that the liberal-leftist, immoral Judge Orrick of San Francisco, has a conflict of interest, as he is a supporter for Planned Parenthood and for abortion. He should never have handled this case. David Daleiden is a courageous hero for unborn children, a martyr for their cause. God knows the Truth, and Divine Justice is with the courageous young Daleiden. He needs our prayers.
and trying to extend his fifteen minutes of fame
No. David Daleiden is not like you. He has dedicated his life to end abortion and end trafficking in baby body parts. He is a living Christian martyr and hero.
And what poster doesn’t want his posts read?
I don’t think you know the definition of conflict of interest.
Judge Orrick and his wife are financial supporters of Planned Parenthood, and Orrick has served as a Board member and Secretary of a local Planned Parenthood affiliate.
Judge Orrick actually helped found the Planned Parenthood affiliate related to the charity of which he was also a Board member and Secretary. Worse– this Planned Parenthood affiliate sold baby body parts to StemExpress, which David Daleiden exposed in his undercover investigations, and which Orrick has tried to permanently stifle from the public. This is a terrible conflict of interest! Orrick is a deviant crook!
Our society and laws value truth, or it does so long as it should wish to exist. The right to know about evil being done with public funds exceeds the secrecy claims of NDA.
No, because a society that doesn’t honor contracts is a society that won’t function because people won’t be able to trust each other and they won’t have confidence that courts will uphold binding agreements.
Contracts are not the issue here. Trafficking in baby body parts is a horrific evil!
Contracts are precisely the issue. A NDA is a non-disclosure agreement; it is a contract wherein parties agree not to disclose information that they obtain under circumstances delineated and defined by the NDA. Daleiden signed a NDA in order to gain access to the conference, people and information he later disclosed in violation of the NDA’s terms. Had he not signed the NDA, he would not have obtained the information he disclosed because he would not have been permitted access to the conference. By disclosing the information, he violated the terms of the contract he signed. A society of laws must uphold contracts freely entered into by competent parties. Daleiden lied when he signed the NDA, or he decided to break the contract sometime after signing it. That was wrong of him, and he should be punished. Contracts must be upheld by courts, or the rule of law collapses.
I wonder if your comment will receive jon’s fifth level of praise
You totally fail to understand the nature of undercover work by police and investigative reporters. For example, a group of undercover cops busted a ring of child sex traffickers in the Midwest recently. How did they do it? They posed as kids at specific online sites, where kids were being enticed, groomed, trapped, and kidnapped, and sold into prostitution. They had many ways to lure and to deceive the criminals– and then, a group of smart cops ambushed and caught the criminals lured with deceptions, and arrested them, and busted their ring– and set the many poor, trafficked children free, and prosecuted the criminals. That is the way it works, with undercover police work, and investigative reporting work, like the excellent work of heroic David Daleiden.
Undercover is not the same as violating a NDA. Your comparison doesn’t work because none of the police involved in undercover work signed NDAs. They also have to avoid being guilty of entrapment because they are law enforcement officers; i.e., they cannot entice someone into committing a crime. Like police doing undercover work investigating prostitution. Police cannot solicit prostitution; they have to wait for it to be offered or solicited by an unsuspecting john.
Daleiden signed a contract saying he wouldn’t disclose what he learned. He violated that contract. If I were on the jury, I’d convict him.
What happened to entrapment?
NDAs, You see a courageous Christian, like David Daleiden, who does excellent undercover investigative work, seeking to end the serious crimes of abortion and trafficking in baby body parts, as Evil. Shame on you.
NDAs, you must turn away from Satan and follow Christ! David Daleiden is a great hero, and a fine Christian Role Model for you. Never, never support the evil crimes of Abortion– Baby Murder– and Baby Body Parts Trafficking!
There is no “right to know about evil being done”
Every citizen has the duty to expose evils! Trafficking in baby body parts is a horrifying evil!
If he broke the law, as a civil disobedience, he should be willing to accept all the legal consequences. That is a part of it.
Christ broke Jewish laws, too– and was crucified for it. The false trial and wrongful crucifixion of a sinless man, Jesus Christ, was a horrific crime! Trafficking in baby body parts is likewise a horrific crime!
Today, August 14th, marks the 49th anniversary of the founding of Texas Right to Life. They have done amazing work!
Judge William Orrick III, a Baby Boomer (born in 1953) is an SF-style, liberal-leftist “hippie” activist judge. He passionately seeks to protect a favorite cause of his: the false “right” of a woman to kill her unborn child.
Many of us laugh at young Calif. hippie baby boomer, Judge William Orrick III, and call his liberal-leftist activist hippie court, the 9th Circus Court of Appeals. It’s a total joke.
It is extremely important for Catholics and for all Christians, to be honest, truthful, and realistic about great evils in their society, and to do something to stop these great evils. We must use our God-given ability to think, reason and judge correctly, as Christ taught us to do. Little children must never have to face the possibility of murder, before they are even born. We desperately need truly just, righteous lawmakers, lawyers, judges, and elected leaders, in our society, who will defend, honor, support and uphold traditional Marriage and Family, and the God-given right of all children to be born. And the right for all children to then be adopted to loving, good homes, if their mothers cannot care for them.
If Deleidan were seeking fame he could have covertly filmed a slaughterhouse or the DOJ instead of just a baby chop shop.