Speaking of First Amendment issues and unlikely "champions," we note with interest a decision by the state Court of Appeals last week that removes from the books a law that was hardly ever used and didn't belong there in the first place.

The suit that led to the striking down of the state's criminal libel law was filed by none other than inmate Allan Parmelee. He's the one who was convicted in 2004 of first-degree arson and while in prison has made hundreds of requests, seeking records that include addresses, photos, pay, schedules, professional histories and birth dates of Washington State Patrol troopers and state Corrections Department staff.

He's such a pest that Attorney General Rob McKenna is arguing in an unrelated court case that felons such as Parmelee should not have such ready access to records if they have not had their civil rights restored. That's another First Amendment issue, though, that we won't get into here, but one that raises serious questions about impact on other records requests.

Now Parmelee becomes the vehicle for striking down an antiquated criminal libel law that hasn't even been invoked in this state since 1925. He was disciplined while in prison for writing a letter to state officials criticizing a prison superintendent in very unflattering terms. His suit in Clallam County Superior Court over the criminal libel conviction was dismissed, so he took his case to the Court of Appeals.

The higher court agreed that the suspect criminal libel statute violated the First Amendment because it was too broad and vague. The prestigious Seattle law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine participated in the case and said in a media bulletin that the ruling "will effectively check any attempts by public figures to intimidate journalists and others through criminal libel threats in Washington state."

You still can't libel people, but the procedures and standards for determining what constitutes libel are contained in civil, not criminal, statutes.

So, it's proper that the law is coming off the books. In this business, we love and staunchly defend the First Amendment and the protections of free speech and expression that it provides.

But sometimes it certainly can make for strange bedfellows.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Sarah Jenkins, Bill Lee and Karen Troianello.