Future Retirement Success
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks

Future Retirement Success

Investing

A Handsome Settlement in the Dominion‐​Fox News Case

by April 20, 2023
April 20, 2023

Walter Olson

You sometimes hear people talk as if even plaintiffs with meritorious cases can’t win libel suits in American courts because of the First Amendment protections of the Supreme Court’s 1964 New York Times v. Sullivan case. Not so. Today’s settlement, in which Fox has reportedly agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems a handsome $787.5 million, shows that while Sullivan may be speech‐​protective, it did not then and does not now eviscerate common law rights to sue for defamation. 

That should take the wind out of demands to “open up” America’s libel law to make it more like Great Britain’s by making cases easier to win. A previously obscure company took a plainly meritorious case to court against one of the richest and most well‐​lawyered media defendants in the world. It demonstrated egregious misconduct, plain falsity, and severe damage to its reputation. And it won big. Cato Institute adjunct scholar Andrew Grossman, writing with David B. Rifkin Jr., has argued that while Justice William Brennan’s reasoning in Sullivan may be loose and policy‐​oriented, the rules at which he arrived are not that far from those in many earlier cases, which often used formulas that in practice generated results not far from an “actual malice” standard. In its substance, Sullivan is not obviously impractical or unfairly tilted toward the media — especially when you remember that even under Sullivan, plaintiffs can and do regularly bring non‐​meritorious defamation claims as a way to intimidate or silence defendants.

The settlement also has implications for how we talk about elections. Some dismiss talk of stolen or rigged elections, even when extending to accusations that named persons have committed spectacular crimes and frauds, as mere banter or differences of opinion. That’s not the law’s view, though. The Dominion settlement reminds us that many of the claims thrown around about the 2020 election are lies and fantasies, knowingly promoted by news executives and hosts afraid their audiences will go elsewhere. And while it is true that many lies and fantastic statements about elections do enjoy First Amendment protection, those that cross the line into defamation often will not.

Lessons for the press aside, if advocacy for what is called election integrity is to be credible, it needs to start with the rigorous practice of factual integrity. [Edited for style and clarity.]

0
FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
previous post
Lobbying Turns Green
next post
Government Proposes To Make Bad Standards on Race and Ethnicity Worse

You may also like

Solar Panels and Open Lands

November 6, 2024

A Legal Market for Organs

March 12, 2025

Breaking Down Taiwan’s Arms Backlog, Part 2: Maintenance

November 9, 2023

“Repeal the Tax Exclusion for Employer-Sponsored Insurance to...

January 24, 2025

Introducing Centers of Progress: 40 Cities That Changed...

September 19, 2023

Election Policy Roundup

April 1, 2025

A Nobel Prize for Globalization

October 4, 2023

Expensing Is Key in Any Pro‐​Growth Tax Package

April 20, 2023

Annual Chance of Being Murdered by a Foreign-Born...

April 9, 2024

There Is No “Little Secret” Speaker Power over...

October 29, 2024

    Get free access to all of the retirement secrets and income strategies from our experts! or Join The Exclusive Subscription Today And Get the Premium Articles Acess for Free

    By opting in you agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Your information is secure and your privacy is protected.

    Recent Posts

    • Trump’s Debanking Order Calls for Investigation, Something Tennessee Should Have Done

      August 9, 2025
    • Hiring Software & JavaScript Developers: Skills, Costs, and Best Practices

      August 9, 2025
    • Rakhi Butani on Skincare, Cooking, and the Power of Balance

      August 9, 2025
    • Jeremy Clarkson warns of ‘catastrophic’ UK harvest as farmers battle extreme weather and rising costs

      August 9, 2025
    • Reform UK urges energy industry to abandon net zero and focus on nuclear and gas

      August 9, 2025
    • British Shoppers flock to EU for tax-free spending as calls grow to reinstate UK scheme

      August 9, 2025

    Categories

    • Business (8,727)
    • Investing (2,191)
    • Politics (16,344)
    • Stocks (3,228)
    • About us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions

    Disclaimer: futureretirementsuccess.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2025 futureretirementsuccess.com | All Rights Reserved