Source: Law & Liberty
by Carson Holloway
“The Supreme Court first introduced the ‘actual malice’ rule in New York Times v. Sullivan (1964). The Times had published a political advertisement critical of Southern opposition to desegregation, with specific condemnations of the conduct of Montgomery, Alabama’s police force. The ad contained some inaccuracies of fact, which led L. B. Sullivan, one of Montgomery’s city commissioners, to sue the Times for libel. Sullivan prevailed in the trial court and, on appeal, in the Supreme Court of Alabama. The Times then appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, which, in an opinion authored by Justice William Brennan, reversed, handing America’s newspaper of record a last-minute victory. To be clear, the problem with New York Times v. Sullivan is not the outcome of the specific case but the Court’s use of it as a vehicle by which to devise and impose a novel constitutional doctrine on the nation.” (11/01/24)
https://lawliberty.org/forum/the-case-against-new-york-times-v-sullivan/