Savage: I’ll Take CAIR To Supreme Court

Radio host Michael Savage has announced he will bring his recently dismissed copyright infringement lawsuit against the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to the U.S. Supreme Court in hopes of making public the Islamic group’s sources of funding.

Savage’s suit – originally filed in San Francisco district court – alleged CAIR illegally published singled-out quotes and audio excerpts from his show regarding Islam, misappropriated his words and used the clips for its own fund-raising purposes, damaging the value of his copyrighted material.

CAIR last year waged a public campaign using excerpted Savage remarks to urge advertisers to boycott his top-rated program. The organization stated its campaign resulted in Savage losing $1 million in advertising.

Part of Savage’s lawsuit alleged CAIR received millions in foreign funding and that it may have been wrongfully acting as a lobbyist or agent for a foreign government, violating the Islamic group’s nonprofit status.

Savage described the group as a “mouthpiece of international terror” that helped fund the 9/11 attacks, a contention strongly denied by CAIR.

His lawsuit was tossed out last month by San Francisco District U.S. Judge Susan Illston, who ruled it is legal to use excerpts of a public broadcast for purposes of comment and criticism.

Illston wrote in her ruling that Savage could try to rewrite the racketeering portion of his suit to better fit the specifics of his case.

Savage’s attorney, Daniel Horowitz, said he is re-working the suit to directly address Illston’s “respectful” ruling. He said the new suit includes over 200 pages of supporting documents, including 200 pages of transcripts of the meeting in which CAIR was founded.

On his program last week, Savage announced that if Illston again rejects his suit, he will bring the case to the higher 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and then to the Supreme Court.

“I’m going to open up this case. I’m going to sue CAIR. I’m bringing a lawsuit back against them. It’s going to cost me a fortune. And when Judge Illston rejects it again, which she will do because she’s a minion of the Bill Clinton crowd, I’m going to take it over her head and I’m going to go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, where again I’m going to hit a stone wall. And then I’m going to take it to the Supreme Court until eventually I force CAIR to describe who their funding sources are,” Savage said.

Savage pointed to CAIR’s recent complaint against the Abercrombie & Fitch clothing company for not hiring a Muslim woman dressed in a head scarf as evidence the Islamic group is expanding its targets beyond talk radio.

The woman applied for a job in Oklahoma City. The local Abercrombie manager allegedly said a scarf “does not fit” the company’s image.

“Don’t you understand what they’re doing to this country?” asked Savage. “First they came for Michel Savage and you didn’t raise your voice and you laughed. Then they came after Abercrombie and Fitch and you didn’t raise your voice because you weren’t in the retail business. Tomorrow they’ll come after you and your business.”

Addressing CAIR directly, Savage warned: “One day you’re going to hit the wrong judge in the wrong city at the wrong time and then the American people are going to find out where your funding is coming from.”

The radio host urged listeners to make online donations at his website, michaelsavage.com, to help fund his lawsuit.

In May 2007 CAIR was identified by the government as an unindicted co-conspirator in a case involving the Holy Land Foundation. Federal prosecutors listed CAIR under the category of “Individuals/entities who are and/or were members of the US Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee and/or its organizations.”

The government also listed Omar Ahmad, CAIR’s founder and chairman emeritus, under the same category.

CAIR is registered as a nonprofit organization recognized as tax-exempt under IRS codes that restrict “lobbying on behalf of a foreign government.” On its website, CAIR claims it receives no foreign government support.