PSCI 3322 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: John Birch Society, Fourteenth Amendment To The United States Constitution, Actual Malice
25 Jan 2017
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Facts: full page ad in the nyt which alleged that the arrest of mlk for perjury in alabama was part of a campaign to destroy king"s effort to integrate facilities and encourage blacks to vote. Montgomery city commissioner, filed a libel action against the newspaper and endorsers of the ad that the allegations against the montgomery police defamed him personally. Under alabama law, sullivan did not have to prove that he had been harmed, and defense claimed that the ad was not truthful since there were factual errors. Response: unanimous - court says first amendment protects the publication of all statements, even false ones, about public officials except when they are made with actual malice (knowledge that they are false or in reckless disregard of the truth) Facts: gertz was a hired attorney by a family to sue a police officer who killed the family"s son.
