More in Prof. Rebecca Scofield's defamation lawsuit against alleged psychic Ashley Guillard, based on Guillard's accusation that Scofield was involved in the Nov. 2022 murder of four University of Idaho students.
The president has launched a multifaceted crusade against speech that offends him.
The president's lawyers also conflate fraud with defamation, misconstrue the commercial speech doctrine, and assert that false speech is not constitutionally protected.
"I blew a zero, so now you're trying to think I smoked weed?” Tayvin Galanakis asked the officer who arrested him in 2022. “That's what's going on. You can't do that, man.”
The self-styled watchdog site ranks news outlets' reliability, which has rankled those on both the right and left.
thrown out for lack of evidence of "actual malice" (i.e., knowing or reckless falsehood on Newsweek's part).
Free speech experts say the takedown order is a clear example of unconstitutional prior restraint under the First Amendment.
"[P]laintiffs ... allege[] that ... [Fox Corp.] 'actively participated in, directed, and controlled the publication' of the above defamatory statements composed and broadcast by the other defendants."
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The host of This Week repeatedly and inaccurately asserted that Trump had been "found liable for rape."
"We're gonna come after the people in the media," the Trump stalwart warns. "Whether it's criminally or civilly, we'll figure that out."
The Republican presidential candidate argues that CBS and The Washington Post broke the law by covering the election in ways he did not like.
Due to North Carolina's lack of an anti-SLAPP law, the defendants will have to defend themselves in court.
Facing an opponent who has been credibly described as a sexual predator, Biden instead emphasizes Trump's cover-up of a consensual encounter.
The defamation lawsuit is the latest in Trump's campaign of lawfare against media outlets, but all of those suits have failed so far.
The jury found no real damages, but gave a sizeable punitive award that could be challenged on appeal.
The state Senate bill, which is extremely similar to another House proposal, aims to scrap major First Amendment protections in defamation cases.
The year's highlights in blame shifting.
The former Trump lawyer could have avoided a massive defamation verdict by presenting his "definitively clear" evidence of election fraud.
The former Trump campaign lawyer re-upped his false claims about two Georgia election workers in the middle of a trial aimed at determining the damages he owes them.
"Being a true free speech champion does require that you defend speech that even you disagree with," says libertarian Rikki Schlott.
A judge tossed two of the claims against Afroman, finding that "the issue appears to be the humiliation and outrage that the officers feel at having their likenesses displayed and mocked."
Tayvin Galanakis was arrested last year on suspicion of intoxication, even after a Breathalyzer showed he was sober.
Critics have argued the legal action is a meritless SLAPP suit.
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The hospital baselessly claimed the teenager's mother wrote the petition after she was fired without cause.
Unlike calling Trump's stolen-election fantasy "the Big Lie," his lawyer's statements were demonstrably false assertions of fact.
Eager for the adulation of Trump supporters, the former Fox News host suggests that rigged election software delivered a phony victory to Joe Biden.
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It is not hard to see why the jury concluded that the incident she described probably happened.
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Critics argue that excessively strict pleading standards prevent plaintiffs with meritorious defamation claims from obtaining the evidence they need to support them.
The 1964 Supreme Court decision New York Times Co. v. Sullivan makes it more difficult for public figures to prove defamation—but as we saw this week, not impossible.
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"The truth matters," says Dominion Voting Systems, and "lies have consequences."
Pretrial rulings recognized the falsity of the election-fraud claims that the outlet aired and rejected three of its defenses.
Contrary to the Supreme Court's First Amendment precedents, Donald Trump thinks harsh criticism of the president should be actionable.
Although Rupert Murdoch admits that Lou Dobbs and other hosts "endorsed" the "stolen election" narrative, Fox's lawyers insist that is not true.
Plus: The editors reveal their favorite issues and articles from the Reason magazine catalog.
"The bill is an aggressive and blatantly unconstitutional attempt to rewrite defamation law in a manner that protects the powerful from criticism by journalists and the public," said one attorney.
The Fox Business host stood out as a champion of the baroque conspiracy theory that implicated Dominion Voting Systems in election fraud.
Hosts and producers privately called Trump lawyer Sidney Powell's claims "complete bs," "insane," and "unbelievably offensive."
The last of the reelection campaign's defamation lawsuits against media outlets looks like it is headed for defeat, like all the others.
"Hamline subjected López Prater to the foregoing adverse actions because . . . she did not conform her conduct to the specific beliefs of a Muslim sect," the lawsuit states.
The year’s highlights in buck passing feature petulant politicians, brazen bureaucrats, careless cops, loony lawyers, and junky journalists.
Students for Life at George Mason University claims that another student organization defamed the group by criticizing its event that compared abortion to slavery and segregation.
The Judge Rotenberg Center, which has been condemned by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, is suing a small nonprofit for defamation after they published a survey critical of the school's practices.
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