Law360, New York ( July 15, 2014, 12:15 PM EDT) -- As more states adopt anti-SLAPP legislation (i.e. Oklahoma's passage this spring and Nevada's expansion of its anti-SLAPP statute last year), more federal courts must decide whether such laws create a substantive right that should be applied by the federal judiciary. In a recent precedent-setting opinion, the Southern District of Texas applied the Texas anti-SLAPP law, also called the Texas Citizens Participation Act, in the wake of timely filed objections, ruling for the first time that the act created a substantive right. With no federal anti-SLAPP statute on the books and a circuit split on whether state anti-SLAPP statutes are procedural or substantive, this federal court opinion provides a boost to the effectiveness of state anti-SLAPP laws everywhere....