Overview
- The Supreme Court declined to take Alan Dershowitz's appeal on Monday, leaving in place lower-court rulings that dismissed his $300 million suit against CNN.
- Courts found Dershowitz failed to show 'actual malice,' the legal standard that requires proof a publisher knew a statement was false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.
- The 11th Circuit said the evidence showed reporters sincerely believed their coverage and Judge Britt Grant wrote that Dershowitz presented no proof of deliberate falsification.
- Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch dissented from the denial and urged the Court to reconsider New York Times v. Sullivan but no majority voted to reopen the precedent.
- The ruling leaves six decades of First Amendment defamation law intact and means media organizations face less exposure to large damages claims unless the Court or Congress changes the standard in the future.