NOTRE DAME, Indiana (LifeSiteNews) — The Notre Dame professor who unsuccessfully sued a student newspaper for exposing her pro-abortion bias could now be on the hook for almost a quarter of a million dollars for attempting to punish the young journalists.
As previously covered by LifeSiteNews, in 2023 Notre Dame sociology professor Tamara Kay sued the university’s independent student newspaper, The Irish Rover, over its coverage of her pro-abortion activism, specifically two articles that included a photo of her office door bearing the message, “This is a SAFE SPACE to get help and information on ALL Healthcare issues and access – confidentially with care and compassion,” as well as a letter “J,” meant to denote unofficial assistance in accessing abortion pills. Kay had also reportedly offered to assist with abortion costs and shared abortion travel financing information on social media.
“I am not actively doing that,” Kay claimed when asked about promoting abortion and then amended her explanation to, “I am doing that as a private citizen, so that’s been cleared by the university … I talked to the dean and have also spoken to ND Media about policies.”
Kay’s defamation complaint claimed the Rover’s reporting on her door sign was “false and defamatory” because the sign did not explicitly mention abortion pills. It also alleged that several quotes from the College Democrats meeting never occurred, such as her encouraging students to exercise academic freedom for abortion advocacy. She further argued that the Rover’s coverage led to her being harassed and threatened. The paper stood by its reporting.
Multiple courts went on to dismiss Key’s lawsuit, culminating in the Indiana Supreme Court voting 4-1 against her in June 2025.
Now, the Rover is awaiting a decision on their request that the court make Kay pay the $244,000 in legal fees they incurred defending themselves.
“Indiana’s Anti-SLAPP law deters meritless cases attacking speech in connection with a public issue by allowing the accused to recoup their attorney fees from the people bringing these types of cases,” said pro-life attorney James Bopp Jr., who has been representing the paper. “It shocked me that a pro-abortion professor would bring a frivolous defamation law suit against a student-run newspaper, just to try to shut them up. My firm concentrates on defending First Amendment rights, and we were happy to defend The Irish Rover’s right to free speech in this case.”
“If the plaintiff’s case is quickly dismissed on the grounds that there’s just no legal basis for it, then the plaintiff has to pay the defendant’s fees,” UCLA emeritus law professor Eugene Volokh told The College Fix. “Defending a lawsuit is a very expensive proposition … if they know that when they get sued, they could have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars of attorney fees, even if they prevail, that’s a pretty powerful reason for them to give in to threats.”
