Judge dismisses Illinois sheriff’s Craigslist lawsuit

A federal judge has dismissed the case an Illinois sheriff brought against Craigslist to force it to remove its adult services listings.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart filed the lawsuit in March, calling Craigslist the “largest source of prostitution in America.”

District Court Judge John Grady rejected Dart’s claim that Craigslist is a “public nuisance” that plays an active role in facilitating unlawful activity.

“[Dart] alleges for example that Craigslist knowingly ‘arranges’ meetings for the purpose of prostitution and ‘directs’ people to places of prostitution. But these allegations strain the ordinary meaning of the terms ‘arrange’ and ‘direct’ unless Craigslist itself created the offending ads. There is no such allegation, and … we cannot treat Craigslist as if it did create those ads,” he wrote (ruling available as PDF[ here](http://blog.craigslist.org/dart.dismissed.pdf)).