A far-right blogger who defamed a North Idaho drag queen won’t get any relief from the Idaho Supreme Court. Justices are unanimously upholding the $1.1 million civil judgment levied by a jury two years ago against Summer Bushnell.
The case dates back to 2022 when Bushnell on social media accused drag performer Eric Posey of flashing his genitals to the crowd at a Pride event in Coeur d’Alene.
She didn’t see the performance in-person, but soon posted a video on Facebook asking, "Why did nobody arrest the man in a dress who flashed his genitalia to minors and people in the crowd[?]"
A Kootenai County jury found Bushnell later posted a doctored video of the performance by blurring out Posey’s crotch and splicing in unrelated footage of a child reacting to another performance.
The unedited footage showed no exposure and police never filed charges against Posey.
The jury ultimately awarded Posey $926,000 in compensatory damages and $250,000 in punitive damages.
Bushnell later appealed the ruling acting as her own attorney, arguing the jury was prejudiced against her, among other things.
The unanimous opinion written by Chief Justice Richard Bevan rejected her case, saying “most of the issues raised on appeal are unsupported by cogent argument or authority.”
“Many of her issues are presented in passing with very little explanation. Others are so amorphous that it is almost impossible to determine what she is arguing,” Bevan wrote.
He also said 16 of her 22 citations of law, previous cases and/or the Idaho Constitution are either fabricated or inaccurate and possibly generated by AI, which Bevan called “pervasive and egregious.”
Bushnell denied using AI to write her briefs during oral arguments in April.
“Review of her briefing and the record raise serious doubt as to that assertion. Regardless, the origin of these deficiencies is less concerning than the burdens they impose on this Court,” Bevan wrote.
All litigants, regardless if they’re represented by an attorney or if they’re representing themselves, must sign their legal arguments stating the findings within are “well grounded in fact.”
Justices issued a warning saying the court could levy further sanctions on parties who rely on AI without fact checking legal filings beforehand. But they chose not to add to Bushnell’s hefty legal judgment.
Posey filed a similar defamation case against the Idaho Family Policy Center, a Christian lobbying group.
Its president, Blaine Conzatti, and a one-time podcast host for the group, Josh Bales, also said in the aftermath of the event that Posey flashed his genitals to the crowd.
An Ada County Judge last year partially sided with Posey, saying IFPC’s statements could not be considered opinion.
However, the two sides settled in February under undisclosed terms.
"Although the Idaho Family Policy Center has declined to admit fault or to apologize, the verdict against Summer Bushnell and Judge Patrick Miller’s summary judgment order have made clear who was speaking truthfully about the events of June 11, 2022," Posey said through his attorney.
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