Word: libelousness
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...ideal of unhampered public debate on public issues got an unprecedented boost in 1963 when the Supreme Court raised the First Amendment right of free speech as a shield against state libel laws. That shield, ruled the court in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, prevents a public official from collecting damages for even false criticism of his conduct, unless he proves that the statement was "made with 'actual malice'-that is, with knowledge that it was false, or with reckless disregard of whether...
That decision placed a huge burden of proof on plaintiffs in libel cases involving public officials. Equally significant, however, was something the court did not do. It did not define "public official," and alert libel lawyers and judges began to suggest that the words could really be translated into the far more general "public figure...
...suggestion has just been declared to be law in a notable ruling of U.S. District Judge James F. Gordon in a $2,000,000 libel suit against two Louisville newspapers and a radio station. The plaintiff: former Army Major General Edwin F. Walker. The defendants, charged Walker, defamed him by publishing and broadcasting wire-service reports suggesting that he incited student race rioters at the University of Mississippi...
Mark DeWolfe Howe '28, professor of Law, is fighting to reverse a $60,000 libel decision against the staff of a small civil rights newsletter in Mississippi...
...newspaper called a Negro school principal an 'Uncle Tom' and a 'stoogo' last spring. He lost his job soon afterwards and sued for libel and slander damages," Howe explained. "But such a suit by a public official was clearly ruled out by the Supreme Court in New York Times v. Sullivan. The trouble with Ashland is that they say they don't know anything about the decision, don't like it and don't want to hear about...