Rethinking Libel, Defamation, and Press Accountability

With its ruling in New York Times v. Sullivan (1964), the Supreme Court severely limited the ability of public officials to sue for libel. The Court thus departed from a traditional understanding that had regarded libel as unprotected by the First Amendment and that had therefore imposed a salutary restraint on the press by holding journalists legally liable for publishing defamatory falsehoods. Today the press faces practically no legal consequences for defaming public figures, an expansive category that includes not only public officials but even many private citizens. The Supreme Court should correct its error, restore the original and traditional meaning of the First Amendment, and thereby protect our democracy from the outsized, underserved, and destructive power that a mendacious press now exercises over the public mind and our politics.