BUZZ
Judge said only a handful of allegations were even worth considering
A Chinese man cannot file a racial discrimination lawsuit against the University of Notre Dame for a legal brief that commented on genocide in the country.
District Court Judge Gretchen Lund tossed out the self-filed suit from Bing Chen, which raised concerns about an amicus filed by the Catholic university’s religious liberty clinic. Chen sought more than $1 billion in damages – $1 for every Chinese person in China, along with $1 for every American living in the United States.
Chen denies there is a genocide of Uyghur Muslims in China, according to the 50-page lawsuit he filed.
He wrote:
If these serious human rights violations against the Uyghurs are true, how could there be no public protests or resistance from Uyghurs in China? How is it possible that the Chinese public wouldn’t openly condemn such actions? The so-called genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang are also an insult to the Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
The amici filed by Notre Dame caused harm to Chinese people in America, Chen alleged.
“Including the defendant, many made false statements that were believed by some Chinese children in the USA, causing them serious emotional distress and undermining their connection to their Chinese heritage,” he wrote. “The plaintiffs encountered this problem.”
Other parts of the brief rely on the idea that saying something critical of a country or ethnic group can lead to violence.
“The so-called Xinjiang concentration camps, rape, forced labor, crimes against humanity, and genocide are all bull[crud] and hateful words,” he wrote. “Hateful rhetoric can also stir dangerous emotions. The hate speech increases political polarization and that this, in turn, makes domestic terrorism more likely in U.S.A, Especially to Chinese Americans.”
Judge Lund did not buy any of these arguments and dismissed the case for lack of standing.
“Plaintiffs’ Complaint contains very few allegations involving Plaintiffs themselves; largely, the Complaint references alleged harms to ‘mainland China’ and Chinese people generally,” she ruled. “There are only six paragraphs in which Plaintiffs identify harm they have suffered.”
These are all generally vague, such as arguing that genocide claims “demoni[z]e China and the Chinese people.”
Chen did not establish how allegations of genocide personally hurt him, Lund concluded.
“The Court fails to see how Plaintiffs’ reputations were in-fact harmed, nor have Plaintiffs provided any additional allegations or evidence in support of this assertion.”
