Word: libel
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Judge Bork, that threw out a suit by Bertell Ollman, a New York University professor who had been vilified as a Marxist by Columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak. Bork held that the column was merely opinion and thus protected speech; Scalia argued that it was "a coolly crafted libel." In his 100-page dissent, Scalia wondered why columnists, "even with full knowledge of the falsity or recklessness of what they say, should be able to destroy private reputations at will." Describing Scalia as "the worst enemy of free speech in America today," New York Times Columnist William Safire implied...
...fifth year on the court, was deemed too inexperienced. Reagan's aides may have also been disturbed because she seemed to show mild symptoms of the Earl Warren syndrome, lately developing a disconcerting streak of independence. In the last year or so, for instance, she voted for expanded libel protection for the press and against prayer in schools, contrary to Administration dogma...
When the Supreme Court gave the press libel protection to make public debate "uninhibited, robust and wide open," it must have foreseen that opponents would be equally robust...
...Connor's independence came last week. Normally a strong supporter of police and prosecutors, she joined in a pair of significant rulings that strengthened the rights of black defendants (see box). One week earlier she astonished some court watchers by writing the majority opinion in a 5-to-4 libel decision requiring that in cases involving public concerns, private individuals must prove that damaging press assertions about them are false...
...jurors went on to award Lakian zero damagesfor his "actual injury," which Jacobs had definedas an essential of libel...