As readers of this space know, former President Donald J. Trump is suing CNN for defamation. Trump claims in his suit that CNN defamed him by repeatedly likening him to Hitler and, in particular, by claiming that his complaints about…

Recently, CNN filed its response to former President Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit. It is not surprising that CNN’s attorneys seem to have the stronger legal argument. After all, the controlling precedents make it notoriously difficult for a public figure to…

Which office do I go to, to get my reputation back? — Ray Donovan, former Reagan Administration labor secretary, following his acquittal on corruption charges. Old litigator’s definition of “courthouse” — a place where people go to tell lies. Ever…

For background on how America came to have the inadequate defamation laws now in place, please see Part One of this discussion here. It now has been more than half a century since the liberal Warren Court handed down its…

Back in the 1960s — more than half a century ago — the New York Times ran an ad in their very powerfully influential Sunday edition about racism in Alabama and in some other southern states. The advertisement, “Heed Their…