Washington, D.C. — A federal appeals court Friday overturned a $130,000 damages award against Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe and an undercover reporter stemming from a 2016 investigation targeting Democratic political consultants.
The D.C. Circuit ruled that the damages improperly punished O’Keefe and reporter Alison Maass for publishing the “Rigging the Election” video before the 2016 presidential election. The video alleged Democratic operatives discussed tactics intended to provoke confrontation at Donald Trump campaign events.
Democracy Partners, founded by Democratic consultant Robert Creamer, sued after Maass obtained an unpaid internship using a false identity and secretly recorded conversations. A federal jury sided with the organization in 2022 on fraudulent misrepresentation and wiretapping claims.
Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson wrote that imposing damages for publishing the resulting story violated the First Amendment. The panel also rejected the argument that Maass became a fiduciary of Democracy Partners simply because she obtained the internship deceptively.
The judges did not give undercover reporting unlimited protection. The panel agreed that some information Maass obtained was gathered through fraudulent means and therefore was not itself constitutionally protected. Judge Robert Wilkins partially dissented, arguing that liability for fraudulent misrepresentation should remain while damages were reduced to a nominal amount.
O’Keefe called the decision important for undercover journalism. Democracy Partners’ attorney told Politico the organization disagrees with the ruling and is evaluating its options.
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