Posted on 02/11/2023 12:59:22 PM PST by fluorescence
When Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida convened a round-table discussion about the news media this week, he spared no effort to play the part, perching at a faux anchor’s desk in front of a wall of video screens while firing questions to his guests like a seasoned cable TV host.
But the panel’s message was as notable as its slick presentation: Over the course of an hour, Mr. DeSantis and his guests laid out a detailed case for revisiting a landmark Supreme Court decision protecting the press from defamation lawsuits.
Mr. DeSantis is the latest figure, and among the most influential, to join a growing list of Republicans calling on the court to revisit the 1964 ruling, known as The New York Times Company v. Sullivan.
But emboldened by the Supreme Court’s recent willingness to overturn longstanding precedent, conservative lawyers, judges, legal scholars and politicians have been leading a charge to review the decision and either narrow it or overturn it entirely.
Under Sullivan, public figures who sue for defamation must show not only that a report contained false and damaging information, but also that its publisher acted with “actual malice” by knowing that the report was false or by recklessly disregarding the truth.
[snip]
During the panel discussion on Tuesday, Mr. DeSantis accused the press of using Sullivan as a shield to intentionally “smear” politicians and said the precedent discouraged people from running for office.
Floyd Abrams, a First Amendment lawyer who represented The Times in the Pentagon Papers case in the early 1970s, said there was “a growing sense in the conservative community that this is their day to set aside New York Times v. Sullivan.”
[snip]
“Essentially what they’re saying is that they want to crack down on American journalism,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Polly want a cracker?
If you think what is happening in Florida is Kabuki theater, then you are the one not accepting reality.
Because Trump made the swamp so much smaller.
Trump did NOTHING to stop the FBI and intelligence services. They colluded with Twitter and tech companies to silence political dissent right under Trump's nose and he did nothing. He did nothing about Fauci.
So your wet dreams that only Trump is qualified to "drain the swamp" holds no water based on his track record. Yeah, he talks a good game, but delivered nothing in that area. He also spent like crazy and inflated government unnecessarily.
Please show me where Trump refused to sign a spending bill or debt limit increase. Please show me how the DS did not control Trump as well....especially during the covid nonsense.
Did Trump do anything about the nursing home deaths? Nope
So again, where is your evidence that Trump will not keep feeding the beast that hates all of us.
In other words, the writer accused of defamation must declare in court "I didn't care that it really happened! I just wanted to hurt him!" in order to be breaking the present law.
You are totally unrealistic to think that Trump could take a change with a novel virus, but DeSantis wasn't any better on the virus. we just wasn't in the firing zone.
The only way the Deep State controlled him, was not with him caving, but with them attacking him relentlessly.
DeSantis in not a MAGA person at all. Open your damn eyes, he is just concerned about himself. We don't need to continue this discussion, because you will see the truth at some point in time. You are wrong about DeSantis, period.
Both Trump and DeSantis bought into the hype over the virus. It was DeSantis who came to his senses faster than Trump.
DeSantis is also ahead of Trump on the vaccine. Trump takes ownership of them while DeSantis is protecting our youth.
DeSanti is a conservative. He has put Florida First and he will put the nation first when he defeats Trump.
H will put the GOPe, and himself first. It’s all for ourselves anymore, period.
Good me too, so I suggest he stay there.
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