The End of Fake News?

[dmcowen674]

2-19-2019


Supreme Court Justice Thomas calls for reconsideration of landmark 1st Amendment precedent


Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Tuesday called for reconsideration of a landmark First Amendment precedent, criticizing the 1964 decision that the Constitution creates a higher barrier for public figures to claim libel.

His position echoes complaints of President Donald Trump, who has called for libel laws to be reconsidered in light of news stories about him, said CNN Supreme Court analyst and University of Texas School of Law professor Steve Vladeck.

Trump has harped on the issue repeatedly, publicly calling on politicians to change the currently standing libel laws.

“Isn’t it a shame that someone can write an article or book, totally make up stories and form a picture of a person that is literally the exact opposite of the fact, and get away with it without retribution or cost. Don’t know why Washington politicians don’t change libel laws?”

[SteelCrysis]

New York Times v. Sullivan was an awful decision. You can read it in full here: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/376/254/ Justice Hugo Black held in his concurrence that the decision did not go far enough, and that it should have made the press immune from government libel actions. But in doing so, he unintentionally hit on why the decision was awful when he said about the new standard that ""Malice," even as defined by the Court, is an elusive, abstract concept, hard to prove and hard to disprove." Thanks to this decision, we are using a standard for the First Amendment that is difficult to use, period.