A federal judge denied a former Georgetown University employee’s request for a default judgment against Canary Mission, ruling on Monday that she failed to show that the pro-Israel watchdog group was properly served with her lawsuit.
Aneesa Johnson, who identifies as black, Muslim and “of Palestinian origin,” sued Georgetown and several others after she was fired over social media posts expressing her hatred for Zionists.
Canary Mission maintained a profile on Johnson and published information about her social media posts made before she was employed by Georgetown. That included, “I have a deep seeded hate for Zio b**ches” and “I call them Zio b**ches, because they’re dogs,” and a “photograph of a scowling Orthodox Jewish man with the caption, ‘When the whole world hates you because you (are) a thief and grow up looking like a shaytan,’” with a tag that said “growing up Israeli.”
Johnson sought a default judgment against Canary Mission and claimed that she served the organization by mailing the complaint to the Central Fund of Israel, which she described as Canary Mission’s financial intermediary and “alter ego.”
U.S. district court judge Christopher Cooper ruled on Aug. 31 that Johnson had not established that the organizations were “so closely intertwined as to constitute essentially the same organization,” though Canary Mission and the Central Fund of Israel “appear, on first blush, to have at least some institutional link.”
The judge stated that even if Johnson had properly served Canary Mission, her claims would likely fail on their merits. The court previously concluded that Johnson had not established underlying discrimination by Georgetown and found no plausible agreement between Canary Mission and the university to violate her civil rights.
“There is no suggestion of a mutual understanding or shared conspiratorial objective,” Cooper wrote.
The judge noted that Georgetown acted following “an independent, internal disciplinary process.”
Cooper denied the default judgment and ordered Johnson to explain within seven days why Canary Mission should not be dismissed from the case for lack of service.
