New York Times Co v Sullivan

New York Times Co v Sullivan is a 1964 decision of the United States Supreme Court that protects the press and public from ruinous defamation liability when they criticize public officials. An Alabama city commissioner, L B Sullivan, sued the New York Times for libel over a fundraising advertisement supporting the civil rights movement that contained some inaccurate factual details about police conduct in Montgomery. The Court held that the First Amendment requires a public official suing for defamation over statements about official conduct to prove actual malice, meaning the publisher knew the statement was false or acted with reckless disregard for its truth, rather than the ordinary lower standard used in private defamation suits. The actual malice standard remains the governing rule protecting robust public debate and press criticism of government officials from being chilled by the threat of defamation suits.