Mississippi AG Files Appeal Against Google, Expects Vindication
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood filed an appeal Monday against the U.S. District Court in Jackson, Mississippi’s ruling granting Google a preliminary injunction against Hood (see 1503310023), he said in a statement Tuesday. “The law is clear that Google could…
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have raised all of its defenses under federal law in state court,” but “we anticipated this judge's ruling,” he said. Judge Henry Wingate said in an order last week that Google didn’t have to “expose itself to civil or criminal liability before bringing a declaratory action to establish its rights under federal law.” “State Attorneys General should not have to go to federal court to prove their state law claims before being allowed to investigate or file in state court,” Hood said. “We believe the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will respect the separate sovereign authority of the states,” he said: “If Attorneys General are unable to enforce state drug and consumer laws simply because a company uses the internet, then this should be a wake-up call to all Americans that our children can simply type in 'buy drugs' and Google will guide them thru its auto-complete feature to the dark web where they can purchase everything from heroin to prescription birth control pills." Google didn’t comment.