Nov. 21--Score this round for the pimps, I guess.
On Monday, a federal appellate court entered an injunction barring Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart from doing or saying anything to discourage credit card companies from doing business with Backpage.com, a classified ad site that, among other offerings and services, facilitates transactions between prostitutes and their clients.
The ruling is part of the preliminary ground-pawing related to a lawsuit Backpage.com filed July 23 over a five-page open letter Dart posted in June. In the letter Dart asked MasterCard and Visa to stop allowing their cards to be used for payment on a website he said promotes sex trafficking.
MasterCard and Visa quickly complied with the request -- joining American Express, which had already stopped dealing with Backpage.com. And so to buy an ad or make a third-party payment for products or services on the site, customers had to mail cash, checks or money orders to a Dallas post-office box or use the electronic currency Bitcoin, restrictions that Backpage.com say have cost them most of their business.
The lawsuit argued that by using his official stationery and employing such ominous phrases as "cease and desist," Dart's request amounted to a threat that constituted government censorship and thus violated the First Amendment rights of the site and its customers.
Dart argued that, no, he was simply using his prominent position in the community to bring social pressure to bear on the credit card companies.
The lawsuit, should it go to trial, will hinge on the not inconsiderable question of where the line is between a public official using the bully pulpit and simply being a bully.
Dart won a ruling in August when a federal court judge denied a request that Dart formally retract his letter and noted that MasterCard had "taken steps to disaffiliate with Backpage" well before the letter had been released.
Last week's defeat evened the score at 1 to 1, but it will have no practical effect -- Dart, his point made, hasn't said a public word about the matter for months. And the credit card companies are unlikely to risk the bad publicity that would attend restarting their relationship with a site that many law enforcement officials, not just Dart, have linked to the abuse of young women trapped in what amounts to sexual slavery.
Local taxpayers, who will end up on the hook if there is significant judgment or settlement in favor of Backpage.com, can only hope that the courts ultimately recognize the absurdity of the claim that massive, international credit card companies were frightened into acting against their better judgment by a letter from the sheriff of Cook County.
