Free Republic

Professional journalism groups reacted with alarm after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas released an opinion Tuesday urging the high court to reconsider a landmark freedom of the press decision called New York Times v. Sullivan. The Sullivan ruling generally shields reporters and news platforms from libel or defamation lawsuits provided they were acting in good faith. Though journalists believe that protection is essential, Justice Thomas said the high court was wrong to usurp the role of states in regulating libel. “[Sullivan] and the Court’s decisions extending it were policy-driven decisions masquerading as constitutional law,” Thomas’s opinion reads. “We should not...

Between the total collapse of the Covington Catholic story and the embarrassment of the Jussie Smollett hate hoax, 2019 has been a rough year for America’s embattled mainstream media. Now, the hostility toward these supposed guardians of democracy that provided some of the energy behind Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign is about to get its day in court. Nick Sandmann, the 16-year-old Covington student who was accused of willfully intimidating the Native American activist Nathan Phillips at this year’s March for Life, has filed a defamation lawsuit against The Washington Post, requesting $250 million in damages. The court filing, which is...

BREAKING: Nick Sandmann files $250 million lawsuit against Washington Post February 19, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – In what they say is “just the first of many,” lawyers for Covington Catholic High School junior Nick Sandmann filed a $250 million lawsuit against the Washington Post today. “The Post rushed to lead the mainstream media to assassinate Nicholas’ character and bully him,” high-profile attorneys Lin Wood and Todd McMurty wrote in a summary of their lawsuit. The newspaper “[fanned] the flames of the social media mob into a mainstream media frenzy of false attacks and threats against Nicholas.” Sandmann and his fellow...

The ongoing campaign of hate against children from Kentucky guilty of being Catholic, being (mostly) white, and wearing MAGA caps won't end until there are legal consequences.  Fortunately, the wheels of justice already are turning in Kentucky, albeit at a pace that is frustrating to those who operate at internet speed.  But the prospect of Kentuckian jurors judging those who libel or threaten their children is delightful.  There are two separate avenues available, and both are being explored by people ready and willing to act. The more serious path to legal relief was articulated by Kenton County (which contains Covington) prosecutor Rob...

Not all liberals are evil, but it is becoming increasingly clear that 21st-century liberalism is an evil ideology. It incites race hatred for political advantage. It tries to keep disadvantaged people down, so they will stay on the Democratic Party plantation. It lies about pretty much everything–for example, “police violence.” And liberals almost never debate public policy issues in time-honored fashion; rather, they try to destroy anyone who disagrees with them. The Covington Catholic media scandal has brought these issues into sharp focus. Liberals, mostly but not exclusively–i.e., the Associated Press–on Twitter, have lied about the trivial encounter between a...

The New York Times and editorial border member Michelle Cottle on Friday filed a motion to have a Sheriff Joe Arpaio's $147.5 million defamation lawsuit against them dismissed. The lawsuit stems from an opinion piece published back in August that the Sheriff said damaged his reputation, Fox News reported. Cottle's OpEd was published after Arpaio lost the Arizona Republican primary for the United States Senate.The defendants argue Arpaio's lawsuit lacks any merit: First, Arpaio is a public figure who has failed to allege facts that could plausibly establish either that the challenged column is substantially false or that The Times published...

Former Arizona lawman Joe Arpaio sued CNN on Monday, arguing the cable outlet inaccurately labeled him a “felon” in a broadcast and has made no efforts to correct its mistake. Mr. Arpaio was found guilty of a misdemeanor contempt of court last year, not a felony — and was quickly pardoned by President Trump. He has asked the courts to expunge his original misdemeanor conviction, in a case that’s still pending. In his lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C., Mr. Arpaio also sued Huffington Post and Rolling Stone, which he says also made inaccurate statements about his...

The conservative writer and conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi filed a lawsuit on Sunday accusing special counsel Robert Mueller of blackmailing him to lie about President Donald Trump in the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. The suit, which seeks $350 million in actual and punitive damages in U.S. District Court in Washington, was filed six days after Corsi entered a formal complaint with the Justice Department alleging prosecutorial misconduct by Mueller. Corsi, 72, the former Washington bureau chief of the conspiracy website InfoWars, accuses Mueller's office of having illegally leaked secret information from the grand jury investigating Russian...

The controversy over Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court didn’t end when he was sworn in. Christine Blasey Ford’s accusations will haunt Kavanaugh for the rest of his career. Critics say his elevation to the court will cast a shadow of illegitimacy over the institution for years to come. This is why Kavanaugh should consider suing Ford for defamation now: Not to retaliate or seek damages, but in the public’s interest. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s proceedings involving Ford’s accusations left many observers unsure what to think. Also, a defamation case would give both Kavanaugh and Ford access to judicial...

Former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page said Monday that he has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee over a dossier that alleges ties between Page and Russia. Page said on Fox News's "Hannity" that his lawsuit "goes beyond any damages or any financial aspects." "There have been so many lies as you’re alluding to and you look at the damage it did to our Democratic systems and our institutions of government back in 2016. And I’m just trying to get some justice," he said. Page's lawsuit is against both the DNC and its law firm, Perkins Coie,...

Conservatives Should Immediately Start A GoFundme Account To Finance Kavanaugh's Defamation Lawsuits and announce it before the Committee Hearings on Thursday

Christine Blasey Ford, the college professor who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of groping her at a drunken party in somebody's house near a park sometime in the early 1980s when both were high school students, has been resisting Republican requests for her to testify at the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) insists that "the Republican demand that it is the accuser's responsibility to tell her story to them is an attempt to silence her. Christine has already done her part to put the ball in play with her accusation. It is now Kavanaugh's job to...

A British caver who helped rescue 12 boys from a Thailand cave said on Monday he may take legal action against Tesla CEO Elon Musk after the entrepreneur called him a “pedo” on Twitter. Musk has come under fire for launching the extraordinary attack on Vernon Unsworth without providing any justification or explanation, after the cave expert slammed his offer of a miniature submarine to extract the footballers from the Tham Luang cave as a “PR stunt”. The boys and their football coach were rescued from the cave complex by an international team and after a week of intense drama....

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/06/targeted-attack-capital-gazette-shooter-previously-sued-newspaper-for-defamation/

Former deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe is planning to sue the Trump administration for defamation and wrongful termination, according to multiple media reports on Friday. McCabe's lawyer Michael Bromwich told reporters that McCabe is also considering filing other civil claims. He said the legal team hasn't yet figured out when they're going to file the lawsuits and is working on making them "solid." "We'll file when we're ready," Bromwich said, according to Axios.

The family of slain Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Fox News, one of the network's reporters, and a wealthy Texas businessman over their roles in the publication of a baseless conspiracy theory about Rich's 2016 death. The lawsuit, filed in US District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeks compensation for "mental anguish and emotional distress, emotional pain and suffering, and any other physical and mental injuries."

"These outrageous allegations are simply false. I took the photos given to the media nearly 15 years ago...I will not further engage publicly with a coordinated smear campaign,” Porter said in a statement provided by the White House...Fox News also has learned that Hicks was involved in drafting the initial response to the first DailyMail.com report.

Jesse Ventura and the estate of “American Sniper” author Chris Kyle have agreed to dismiss the former Minnesota governor’s defamation case. ... A federal jury in St. Paul awarded Ventura $1.8 million in 2014, but that verdict was overturned on appeal. While Ventura initially said he’d seek a new trial, there were signs in November that a settlement was forthcoming. Court documents filed Friday show the parties agreed to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning Ventura cannot sue again on the same claim.

Washington (AFP) – Sarah Palin, a former governor of Alaska and Republican vice presidential candidate, appealed on Tuesday the dismissal of her defamation suit against The New York Times, according to a court filing. Her suit against America’s newspaper of record was thrown out in late August by a New York judge who ruled that, in the context of “free” and “robust” American political journalism, “mistakes will be made.”....Palin accused the newspaper of having published the editorial with the full knowledge that the connection it mentioned was unfounded, and has pursued a defamation suit against it.