A Circuit Court judge takes on the Supreme Court
DC Circuit Senior Judge Laurence Silberman--in a withering dissent--slammed the 1964 SCOTUS decision in New York Times v. Sullivan, which required "actual malice" to be proven, in order for an organization to collect for libel. "Justice [Clarence] Thomas has already persuasively demonstrated that New York Times was a policy-driven decision masquerading as constitutional law," he wrote.
He further wrote, "The holding has no relation to the text, history, or structure of the Constitution, and it baldly constitutionalized an area of law refined over centuries of common law adjudication."
With just a few exceptions--e.g. Fox News, the New York Post, and the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal--the American media, he declared, are thoroughgoing liberal: "Although the bias against the Republican Party—not just controversial individuals—is rather shocking today, this is not new; it is a long-term, secular trend going back at least to the ’70s."
Comments?
__________________
"In his second inaugural address, [Franklin D.] Roosevelt sought 'unimagined power' to enforce the 'proper subordination' of private power to public power. He got it…"—George Will, July 8, 2007
|