Daniel Horowitz, the attorney who represented shock jock Michael Savage in his recent copyright infringement suit against the Council on American-Islamic Relations, is set to go up against CAIR again as counsel for the co-author of Muslim Mafia.
And, Horowitz told TPMmuckraker in a phone interview this morning, he’s relishing the opportunity for Round Two with the Muslim civil rights group.
A judge ruled mostly in CAIR’s favor yesterday in a suit seeking to block Dave Gaubatz from publishing documents taken by his son Chris, who went undercover as a Muslim intern at CAIR.
Horowitz told us he thinks his clients have a good case.
“The big picture is that [Chris] took things from the garbage, which is not protected. … And CAIR is a group formed by Hamas, there’s no question about that. I think that puts what he did in a very different light — it’s not like he took from the Red Cross,” Horowitz says. “He’s looking at a group that kills people and exposing what they do.”
CAIR has denounced terrorism, and an 87-member Congressional caucus recently came to CAIR’s defense on the Muslim Mafia charges, describing CAIR as a “civil rights group.”
Horowitz, who is based in California and plans to file a motion this week to be admitted to represent the Gaubatzs pro hac vice in U.S. District Court in Washington, says noted First Amendment attorney Martin Garbus will be working with him on the case.
The Savage suit, filed in 2007 and dismissed in 2008, centered on a radio show in which Savage said Muslims were “screaming for the blood of Christians or Jews or anyone they hate” and called the Koran a “hateful little book” and a “document of slavery.” After CAIR posted excerpts of the program and organized an advertisers’ boycott, Savage, represented by Horowitz, sued, charging copyright infringement and racketeering.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported in August 2008 that Horowitz claimed Savage had a “legitimate case but has decided not to pursue it” (via Nexis):
A San Francisco federal judge threw out Savage’s earlier copyright and racketeering suit against the Council on American-Islamic Relations last month but gave him a chance to file an amended suit by today. In an unusual court filing, attorney Daniel Horowitz, who had earlier promised a new suit that would pass legal muster, said Thursday that Savage has a legitimate case but has decided not to pursue it.
Insisting that Savage can prove the Islamic organization engaged in a conspiracy that harmed him financially, Horowitz said the talk show host is reluctantly dismissing the suit because of “factors arising out of this litigation,” which he did not specify.
It turns out the amended complaint in the Savage case, Horowitz tells us, was the basis for “about two thirds of the Muslim Mafia book.” He said he did not know the Gaubatzs until they reached out to him a few days ago after CAIR filed its suit.
Asked about CAIR’s promises of further legal action, Horowitz says he can only hope.
“My ultimate dream would be to fully litigate the question of who CAIR is and whether what they do is legal or not legal. It would be like being invited into the ring in the heavyweight championship bout knowing you can win.”
