Judge Refuses To Dismiss Former ACORN Worker's Lawsuit Against O'Keefe and Giles

Last year, James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles were sued by former San Diego ACORN worker Juan Carlos Vera for allegedly illegally taping their confidential conversation. This lawsuit came after O'Keefe's and Giles' claims that ACORN workers systematically assisted them in trying to set up a purported child prostitution ring were exposed as a hoax.

After having his conversation with O'Keefe and Giles, Vera reportedly contacted California law-enforcement officials (actions that put the lie to suggestions by O'Keefe, Giles, and their patron Andrew Breitbart that no ACORN workers refused to help them with their scheme).

The lawsuit contends that by taping their talk with Vera, O'Keefe and Giles violated a California law that prohibits people from recording confidential communications without the consent of all parties to the communication.

This week, as law professor and blogger Eugene Volokh noted, a federal judge denied motions by both O'Keefe and Giles to have the lawsuit thrown out.

O'Keefe had argued that the California statute was unconstitutional under the First Amendment. Giles contended that because she was not the one actually taping the conversation with Vera, she could not be held liable under the statute.

You can read the judge's decision here.

This is only the latest problem for O'Keefe.

Since the ACORN hoax was exposed, O'Keefe has also admitted to breaking the law in New Orleans. In addition, O'Keefe reportedly participated in a plan to “punk” CNN reporter Abbie Boudreau by luring her to a boat under pretenses of an interview and then engage in an elaborate seduction with sexually explicit items. And O'Keefe put out hoax videos targeting NPR that were so dishonestly edited that Glenn Beck's website The Blaze called him out on it.