Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) applauded the Senate's unanimous passage Monday of the SPEECH Act, a bill he co-sponsored, to protect the First Amendment rights of American journalists, authors, and publishers.

The bill provides a remedy in the U.S. federal courts to Americans who are victims of libel tourism, defamation lawsuits brought against American authors and publishers in countries whose protections of free speech are not as strong as those provided by the U.S. Constitution.

"This bill will protect the First Amendment rights of American journalists, authors, and publishers and free them from the chilling effect of foreign defamation judgments that are incompatible with our Constitution," said Senator Lieberman. "I commend Senators Leahy and Sessions for developing this bipartisan solution and urge the House to pass it quickly so the President can sign these important protections into law."