How the mighty have fallen. Once able to harass the president of the United States, professional gadfly Larry Klayman — former head of Judicial Watch — is now reduced to filing lawsuits over zoning issues. The town of Pompano Beach approved plans by the Islamic Center of South Florida to build a mosque; at least one resident of the neighborhood disapproved, and hired Klayman:
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, claims the leader of the mosque, Imam Hassan Sabri, has repeatedly been associated with others who are tied to terrorist groups including Hamas, al-Qaida and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The connections outlined in the filing appear loose and there is no accusation of direct wrongdoing.
Having reviewed the complaint (PDF), it appears to range from meritless to frivolous; this about sums up Klayman’s argument:
Larry Klayman, the lawyer for Wright, said the filing does not amount to an anti-Muslim action but maintained that the mosque sacrificed public safety.
“The mosque is radical, the imam is radical,” Klayman said. “We believe they will go out and recruit people in the African-American community to do their bidding.”
I may not be a fan of “radical” Muslims, but as you can imagine, a church being “radical” and “recruiting people” are protected activities under the First Amendment. And while Klayman failed to name the town that approved the allegedly-suspect rezoning as a party in the case, he sued the completely unrelated Council on American-Islamic Relations for some inexplicable reason. (I suspect the phrase “cheap publicity stunt” may be the answer.)
By the way, one of these things is not like the others:
Klayman also has brought cases against Dick Cheney, Osama bin Laden, Fidel Castro and the Teamsters, as well as his own mother.
(Previous coverage of Klayman: Apr. 2002, Jul. 2005, Apr. 2006)
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