Last month [0], U.S. Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) filed a defamation lawsuit against his opponent, Al Franken.   CREW's report, [1] The 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and 4 to watch), was a factor in that lawsuit.  Coleman was one of the "4 to watch" -- and one of the four Senators featured in the report.  Yesterday, a judge dismissed the lawsuit and our report was also a factor in that decision: [2]

A Minnesota judge threw out a lawsuit Thursday against Al Franken by Republican Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), who claimed his Democratic opponent had defamed him in ads.

Judge Barbara L. Neilson ruled claims by a watchdog group against Coleman referenced in the Franken ads are “substantially accurate, if not literally true.”

Coleman and Franken remain locked in a tight contest for the incumbent’s Senate seat that is headed for a recount. Final results might not be known until December.

Coleman’s suit centered on a claim in a Franken ad that Coleman is the “fourth most corrupt” Senator, attributed to the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). Neilson ruled it did not meet the law's standards for defamation.

“Because the statement made in the Franken advertisements accurately captures the 'gist' or 'sting' of Senator Coleman’s placement in the CREW listing...there is not probable cause to believe that a violation of the statute has occurred," Neilson wrote. She also rejected claims by the Coleman campaign that CREW was not “bipartisan,” contrary to the organization’s claims.