Make No Law: The Sullivan Case and the First AmendmentA crucial and compelling account of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the landmark Supreme Court case that redefined libel, from the Pulitzer Prize–winning legal journalist Anthony Lewis. The First Amendment puts it this way: "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." Yet, in 1960, a city official in Montgomery, Alabama, sued The New York Times for libel—and was awarded $500,000 by a local jury—because the paper had published an ad critical of Montgomery's brutal response to civil rights protests. The centuries of legal precedent behind the Sullivan case and the U.S. Supreme Court's historic reversal of the original verdict are expertly chronicled in this gripping and wonderfully readable book by the Pulitzer Prize Pulitzer Prize–winning legal journalist Anthony Lewis. It is our best account yet of a case that redefined what newspapers—and ordinary citizens—can print or say. |
Contents
Heed Their Rising Voices | 2 |
Reaction in Montgomery | 9 |
Separate and Unequal | 15 |
Copyright | |
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actual malice advertisement Alabama courts Alabama Supreme Court American argued argument award Brandeis brief CALIFORNIA/SANTA CRUZ charged Chief Justice citizens civil rights Commissioner common law Congress constitutional constitutionally contempt convicted criminal CRUZ The University decided decision defamation defamatory defendant dissent draft editor Embry Eric Embry evidence fact false falsity federal Fourteenth Amendment free speech freedom of speech Herbert Wechsler Holmes issue Judge Jones judgment jury Justice Black Justice Brennan Justice Harlan Justice White knowing or reckless lawyers libel action libel law libel suits liberty Louis Loeb Madison ment ministers Montgomery Nachman newspaper official conduct opinion Pentagon Papers petitioners police political President prior restraints prosecution protection prove public officials published punishment punitive damages racial reputation respondent retraction rule Sedition Act seditious libel Southern speech and press statements statute sued Sullivan Supreme Court trial truth UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA/SANTA verdict violated Wechsler wrote York YORK TIMES CO