New York Times Co. v. Sullivan
- Decided
- March 9, 1964
- Docket
- 39
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
Cited 8,531 timesNo negative treatment found in this library
What later courts said
- ruling that the free speech clause applies to the states through the fourteenth amendment; collecting cases — Vote Choice, Inc. v. Joseph Distefano, Etc., Elizabeth Leonard, Vote Choice, Inc. v. Joseph Distefano, Etc. (1993)
- holding that false statements about public officials not made with actual malice cannot give rise to damages for defamation — Sosa v. DIRECTV, Inc. (2006)
- recognizing that erroneous statements are inevitable and "must be protected if the freedoms of expression are to have the 'breathing space' " needed to survive — Warner Bros. Entm't, Inc. v. Jones (2017)
Each line is a later court’s own words about this case, not a summary. Read the opinion before relying on it.
How the opinion begins
[*256] Mr. Justice Brennan delivered the opinion of the Court.
We are required in this case to determine for the first time the extent to which the constitutional protections for speech and press limit a State’s power to award damages in a libel action brought by a public official against critics of his official conduct.
Respondent L. B. Sullivan is one of the three elected Commissioners of the City of Montgomery, Alabama. He testified that he was “Commissioner of Public Affairs and the duties are supervision of the Police Department, Fire Department, Department of Cemetery and Department of Scales.” He brought this civil libel action against the four individual petitioners, who are Negroes and Alabama clergymen, and against petitioner the New York Times Company, a New York corporation which publishes the New York Times, a daily newspaper. A jury in the Circuit Court of Montgomery County awarded him damages of $500,000, the full amount claimed, against all the petitioners, and the Supreme Court of Alabama affirmed. 273 Ala. 656, 144 So. 2d 25.
Cite this
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964)Read the full opinion
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