Today, our firm filed an amicus brief in support of a petition for certiorari requesting that the Supreme Court reconsider New York Times v. Sullivan and its progeny. Our brief explained how Justice Brennan’s opinion in that case radically changed libel law by immunizing most libel against public figures. Brennan’s opinion was based neither on the First Amendment text nor a historic understanding of libel law, but on atextual pragmatism. In this case, it allowed Fox News and others to defame a conservative candidate for the U.S. Senate from West Virginia following requests by powerful government officials to “dump” on him “hard” to ensure he was not nominated.
