A TV judge may soon find herself on the opposite side of the bench as a result of the defamation of character lawsuit being filed against her by activist Deray Mckesson. Mckesson is filing the lawsuit in response to Jeanine Pirro’s comments on September 29, when she appeared on the Fox News show Fox and Friends and repeated the claims of the anonymous police officer who sued Mckesson and Black Lives Matter saying they were directly responsible for injuries he sustained in a protest. Pirro took it a step beyond merely parroting his claims when she insinuates that Mckesson and others being awarded monetary damages for enduring police abuse is a signal that something is wrong with this country, furthering the age-old nonsensical argument that Black activists don’t have jobs.

In a defamation case, part of the legal definition of the term is that the act has to be done with malice, and since Mckesson is a public figure, this might be difficult to prove given public figures have a higher burden of proof in such cases. Pirro also attempted to connect Deray Mckesson’s suit being dismissed by Judge Brian Jackson with the President who appointed him, President Barack Obama, as if to say that all these Black people do is look out for each other, in a kind of twisted logic that betrays exactly how whiteness and white people tend to think.

Mckesson also named Fox News in his lawsuit, who has responded to Mckesson’s allegations by invoking their protection under the first amendment, which is exactly what most people who use hate speech do to protect themselves. “We informed Mr. Mckesson’s counsel that our commentary was fully protected under the First Amendment and the privilege for reports of judicial proceedings,” Fox said in a statement

This should be interesting.