These standards were later applied more broadly to “public figures.” Yet it held that, in defamation suits brought by public officials, “actual error, content defamatory of official reputation, or both, are insufficient to warrant an award of damages for false statements…” In order to win a defamation suit, a public official must not only prove the statement to be false, but also that the defendant knew it was false or recklessly disregarded the truth. In Sullivan, the Court determined that an ad placed by civil rights advocates in The New York Times did in fact contain falsehoods. While defamation is one of the few categories of unprotected speech, the Supreme Court has set very high standards for imposing defamation liability in the context of political speech. that false statements receive no First Amendment protection.” to survive.’” Even more directly, a 2012 opinion noted that “he Court has never endorsed the categorical rule.

Sullivan, the Supreme Court recognized “hat erroneous statement is inevitable in free debate, and that it must be protected if the freedoms of expression are to have the ‘breathing space’ that they ‘need. In the landmark 1964 case New York Times v.

Many false statements are protected by the First Amendment, for good reason. In response to free speech advocates’ concerns that such legal action would chill constitutionally protected speech critical of the president, the campaign’s Senior Legal Advisor Jenna Ellis said, “False statements are not protected under the U.S. Over the past few months, President Trump’s reelection campaign has sued four different media organizations for defamation.

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