Ninth Circuit Finds Prosecutor/Blogger Did Not Act “Under Color of State Law” While Blogging/Tweeting

The Ninth Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of §1983 claims brought against L.A. prosecutor Patrick Frey by conservative activist Nadia Naffe, finding that she could not demonstrate that he made statements about her on his blog and on Twitter while pursuing his duties as a state employee nor “under color of state law.” It did remand to a lower court state law claims because the lower court applied the wrong standard in determining whether Naffe’s claims satisfied the “amount in controversy” requirement.  Here is a link to the Ninth Circuit ruling; here is a link to Amanda Bronstad’s National Law Journal article discussing the decision.