Make no law : the Sullivan case and the First Amendment by Anthony Lewis

Make no law : the Sullivan case and the First Amendment / Anthony Lewis.— 1st Vintage Books ed. – New York : Vintage Books, 1992.
368 p. in various pagings ; 21 cm
ISBN: 0679739394 (pbk.)
Originally published: New York : Random House, c1991.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Sullivan, L. B.--Trials, litigation, etc. 2. New York Times Company--Trials, litigation, etc. 3. Libel and slander--United States. 4. Freedom of the press--United States. 5. Press law--United States. 6. United States. Constitution. 1st Amendment. -- Cases.

345.730256

Unhappy with an editorial advertisement published in the New York Times by the Committee to Defend Martin Luther King and the Struggle for Freedom in the South, L. B. Sullivan, a City Commissioner in Montgomery, Alabama sued the Times for libel in the Circuit Court of Montgomery County for half a million dollars. An all white jury granted the full amount. The Alabama Supreme Court upheld their judgment. The Times appealed to the United States Supreme Court in 1962. It might have argued that Mr. Sullivan, who was never named in the advertisement critical of “Southern violators of the Constitution.” Instead it argued that the first amendment to the federal constitution gave the press the right to criticize the conduct of a public official. In 1963 the Court decided to hear the case.

Traditionally, following English common law, American legislatures and court considered libel and slander as exception to the freedom of speech and press granted by the first amendment, in the same way that blackmail or perjury were beyond its protection. Also libel was generally a matter of state rather than federal law. It was also unusual for the federal court to hear an appeal on a case that had, up until this point, been heard entirely in state courts. It was even more unusual when the federal Supreme Court published its unanimous decision in 1964 to reverse the Alabama ruling.

Lewis gives an excellent presentation of the historical background of the case and the legal issues involved in the decision. He traces the history of the First Amendment back to its origins in the first Congress and before, and looks at the legal tensions between American government and press beginning with the Sedition Act of 1798 and going forward through the Sullivan decision and on though 1991 when this book was written. There are stops along the way to discuss other cases that had a significant impact on press law, and a chapter on the opinions of Justices Oliver Wendell Homes and Louis Brandeis. Appended are reproductions of a first draft of the decision by Justice William Brennan followed by the final Opinion of the Court and Concurring Opinions by Hugo Black and Arthur Goldberg. A reproduction of the original editorial advertisement is also included.