A couple points: * The 1st Amendment does protect some lies. If I say "Jim Choate is a Venusian albatross," the statement is probably (?) a lie, but I doubt you'll prevail in a libel suit. What damages do you have? That's the key, I believe -- the statement has to lower you in the opinion of others. * Many 1st Amendment experts don't believe in the legal concept of libel. It is, they say, a rich man's game -- if I'm libeled by the NYT, I'm probably not going t be able to sue them, but Donald Trump can. Moreover, if I don't have the resources to sue but the statement is libelous, it creates a *presumption* in the minds of the readers that the article is certainly true. (If it were not, I would have sued, right?) * The concept you may be searching for is consensual speech, which I believe a society should tolerate. Libelous speech isn't consensual, though obscenity is. -Declan On Tue, 28 Jan 1997, Jim Choate wrote:
Hi,
It has been asserted by at least one member that the 1st Amendment protects libelous or other defamatory speech.
This is hokem. The 1st most certainly does not protect lies in any form. It protects opinion, this is distinctly different then stating a untruth about some party or distribution of material with the attributation to them without their permission.
No civilized society can exist that permits lies and other defamations of character and expect to survive for any length of time. Simply for no other reason than contracts and other such instruments would not be worth the paper they were printed on. Let alone any laws or other issuances from the government itself.
ARTICLE I.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Where in there do you see a right to lie, cheat, or steal? If it did, it would be a lie because it would not protect the very freedom it says it is.
Jim Choate CyberTects ravage@ssz.com