Word: blasis
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...avowing furor was the fact that Goodwin may have had a point. "As a matter of common sense, a court should struggle not to reach this result," says Jack Balkin, a professor at Yale Law School. "But the reasoning isn?t crazy. It?s technically correct." Vincent Blasi, a law professor at Columbia University and the University of Virginia, agreed. "If you?re being true to the idea that government must not take positions on religious questions, then the Ninth Circuit opinion is quite persuasive," he says. "There is a powerful desire by majorities to assert a religious identity...
...broadcast was false. If a court decides that Jewell is a public figure, he will also have to prove that the falsehood was intentional or made in reckless disregard of the truth. This issue of whether Jewell is a public figure is "a tough borderline case," says Vincent Blasi, a First Amendment expert at the Columbia University School...
...Blasi agrees with the Jewell camp that the most disturbing type of coverage was "all the pop psychologizing about him." But he notes that, absent serious inaccuracies, Jewell has "a grievance but not a case." Even were Jewell to file a claim for invasion of privacy, Blasi says, it could be countered by the public's legitimate interest in whether FBI investigators had found the right person...
...they plan to file libel actions, in which they may have little chance of prevailing. Attorney Wayne Grant insists, however, that "we will win these lawsuits. This is not a p.r. campaign." Yet it will certainly feel like one. Libel cases are a "nightmare" for the defendants, notes Blasi. "You lose them even if you win them." Already the reputations of the FBI and the press are suffering, and Jewell has been able to turn the media megaphone around to declare his innocence. You almost wish he'd quit now. Sign a lucrative book or movie deal and call...
Still, Stone may yet have to face a Louisiana jury. Attorney Joseph Simpson, who represents clerk Patsy Byers, has named Stone and Warner Bros. in a civil suit filed before Grisham's statements. But other experts feel confident that Stone's First Amendment rights will prevail. Besides, says Vincent Blasi, a professor at Columbia Law School, "this idea of legal liability could come back to haunt authors like John Grisham. Censorship, like revolution, often devours its own children...