Ethics

Appeals Court Issues Terrible Libel Ruling

By Ed Brayton

The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals just handed down a very dangerous libel ruling for those in the state of Massachusetts (since the ruling cites Massachusetts law and court rulings and the case was originally filed in state court, I presume this does not apply throughout the 1st circuit, which would make it even worse). The court ruled that someone could be found guilty of libel even if what they said was entirely true as long as the court decided they did it with "ill will."

American libel law has long recognized two important principles. First, that truth is an absolute defense for any accusation of libel; if what you said is true, that's all that really matters. Second, that even if the statement is false it has to have been made with "actual malice." In the touchstone libel case, NY Times v Sullivan, the Supreme Court defined actual malice as passing on statements that were known to be false by the person making them and were uttered with the intent to defame.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on March 03, 2009 (boomark / email).