Mega Edition: The Judge Denies The Tik Tok Tarot Card Readers Motion To Dismiss (8/13/26)

U.S. Magistrate Judge Raymond E. Patricco denied Ashley Guillard’s motion to dismiss the defamation lawsuit brought by University of Idaho professor Rebecca Scofield, rejecting Guillard’s attempts to argue that the federal court lacked authority to hear the case. Guillard, who represented herself, contended that the court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction and personal jurisdiction over her, that Idaho was the wrong venue because she lived in Texas and posted her TikTok videos from there, and that the judge had demonstrated bias against her spiritual and psychic beliefs. The court disagreed, finding that Guillard had intentionally directed her accusations toward an Idaho professor and an Idaho-centered murder case and that Scofield alleged she suffered the resulting reputational, professional and emotional harm in Idaho. The judge concluded that those contacts were sufficient for the Idaho federal court to exercise jurisdiction over Guillard and that Idaho was a proper venue for the lawsuit.


Patricco also rejected Guillard’s argument that the court had improperly judged the validity of her tarot readings or spiritual practices. The judge explained that the case was not about deciding whether psychic abilities or spiritual beliefs were real; it was about whether Guillard had made actionable defamatory statements about Scofield, including accusations that Scofield had been romantically involved with one of the murdered students and had arranged the killings. At the motion-to-dismiss stage, the court was required to accept Scofield’s well-pleaded allegations as true and determine whether they stated a legally viable defamation claim, not decide whether Guillard’s accusations were ultimately true. Patricco found that Scofield had adequately alleged defamation and ruled that Guillard’s disagreements with earlier court decisions did not establish judicial bias or justify throwing out the case. On November 13, 2023, he therefore denied Guillard’s motion to set aside the court’s prior rulings and denied her motion to dismiss, allowing Scofield’s lawsuit to continue.


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