Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Jilly_in_VA

(9,854 posts)
Wed Mar 8, 2023, 12:57 PM Mar 2023

Ron DeSantis's plan to strip First Amendment rights from the press, explained

Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to eliminate the First Amendment safeguards that prevent lawsuits seeking to strong-arm the press into silence.

He’s been very clear about this goal: In February, DeSantis led a roundtable discussion brainstorming ideas to weaken the press’s First Amendment protections. Flanked by a panel dominated by defamation plaintiffs and lawyers, the Orbánesque governor attacked the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) for, in his words, empowering a media that will “find a way to smear you.”

Sullivan was a historic decision establishing that the government (and, in many cases, private litigants) may not censor the media, political advocates, and the public at large through defamation suits intended to shut down dissenting voices. The case arose out of a Jim Crow-era official’s attempt to silence civil rights protesters. It established that someone accused of making false claims about a public figure regarding a matter of public concern may not be held liable for defamation, unless the statement was made “with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.”

Without Sullivan, government officials could potentially use defamation suits to impose financially devastating liability on their political enemies — which is what an Alabama official tried to do in Sullivan itself. And a wealthy individual who disagrees with a newspaper’s coverage could potentially fund lawsuits targeting any false statement made by that newspaper, no matter how minor, until the sheer cost of defending against these suits bankrupts the paper.

Much of DeSantis’s February event consisted of the governor asking the panelists for proposals to make it easier to prevail in lawsuits against the press. Their ideas ranged from requiring losing defamation defendants to pay for the plaintiffs’ lawyers, to limiting the types of defendants who can invoke Sullivan, to blatantly unconstitutional proposals to eliminate Sullivan’s protections and replace them with much weaker safeguards for free speech.

https://www.vox.com/politics/23622299/ron-desantis-first-amendment-press-new-york-times-v-sullivan

Unconstitutional right down the line, but as noted in the article, both Thomas and Gorsuch are in favor!

7 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Ron DeSantis's plan to strip First Amendment rights from the press, explained (Original Post) Jilly_in_VA Mar 2023 OP
Facists are gonna facist. ZonkerHarris Mar 2023 #1
And only the rich and powerful will benefit TheRealNorth Mar 2023 #2
Yep .. without a doubt this guy must be kept out of the White House FakeNoose Mar 2023 #3
Funny, I just wrote a case brief on Sullivan Sympthsical Mar 2023 #4
funding lawsuits? DBoon Mar 2023 #5
DeSatan is the first presidential candidate that I remember who is running on a "What Chainfire Mar 2023 #6
This will not stand..period. Conservative SCOTUS or no. PortTack Mar 2023 #7

FakeNoose

(32,356 posts)
3. Yep .. without a doubt this guy must be kept out of the White House
Wed Mar 8, 2023, 01:09 PM
Mar 2023

No matter what it costs, he should never be elected Potus.

Sympthsical

(8,936 posts)
4. Funny, I just wrote a case brief on Sullivan
Wed Mar 8, 2023, 01:09 PM
Mar 2023

And yes, the Court put a ridiculously high bar on what public officials can sue for.

And rightly so.

Funnily enough, Sullivan wasn't even mentioned in the NYT article he sued about. His beef was even worse. "If you defame people who are my subordinates, you're defaming me." Just think of the implications of that shit had it been left in place. Which the Alabama Supreme Court did at the time.

Chainfire

(17,308 posts)
6. DeSatan is the first presidential candidate that I remember who is running on a "What
Wed Mar 8, 2023, 02:00 PM
Mar 2023

can I take from you next" theme.

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Ron DeSantis's plan to st...