NY Times v. Sullivan
Historic libel case is focus of Lewis visit

By Chelsea DeWeese
J-School Web Reporter

Anthony Lewis

After 40 years, the New York Times Co. v. Sullivan decision by the U.S. Supreme Court still sets the precedent in libel law regarding public officials, forging a path for freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

This month Anthony Lewis, the former New York Times reporter and columnist who covered the historic case, and Rod Nachman, the attorney who represented L. B. Sullivan, will give an inside perspective of what Times v. Sullivan meant then, when the country was rife with civil-rights movements, and now, while the country is feeling the squeeze of war and tighter national security.

Times v. Sullivan was born of a civil-rights fundraising ad run in the Times that contained some inaccuracies. The ad criticized the actions of the Montgomery, Ala., police department. L. B. Sullivan, the police commissioner in Alabama at the time, sued the Times in an Alabama court and won $500,000. The Times appealed to the Supreme Court, and its decision in favor of the Times and the First Amendment made the right of libel recovery for public officials contingent upon their ability to prove malice or reckless disregard.

Lewis will give two lectures at the University of Montana — a morning lecture to journalism students about the precedent set by the Times v. Sullivan decision, cases that the precedent has spawned and how journalism has changed over the past four decades. He will be joined by Nachman via miked telephone. The evening lecture will deal with the war in Iraq.

Lewis won two Pulitzer Prizes for his reporting in the 1950s and ‘60s and is the author of three books. His 1992 book, “Make No Law,” addresses how the Times v. Sullivan Supreme Court decision affected First Amendment law in America.

Civil-rights ad published in the New York Times on March 29, 1960. Click on image to see full text of ad.

Lewis said during a telephone interview that the Sullivan decision was dramatic for everyone involved because, until that point, the First Amendment was not viewed in the context of libel. Until that point, if public officials (such as some in the South during the civil-rights movement) wanted to muzzle the media, they could tie up the press with libel suits, and the burden of proof was on the media. After Times v. Sullivan, the burden of proof in libel cases was transferred to public officials.

“I think there was self censorship before, a lot of self censorship, and there still is to some degree,” Lewis said. “But (the Sullivan decision) made the press readier to take on the government.”

Clem Work, a journalism professor at UM, said the Times v. Sullivan decision freed up the media to do the job it was supposed to do in American society.

"(The Sullivan decision’s) language takes its strengths from the ideas of James Madison and Thomas Jefferson about a government by and for the people, and that, in the conception of democracy, there is no room for the government to either censure or punish people for criticizing it,” Work said. “It’s etching this policy in stone and putting it there for all to see.”

Jerry Brown, dean of the UM School of Journalism, was a young journalism student in Alabama when Times v. Sullivan was decided. Twenty years later, at the Practising Law Institute in New York, Brown attended a lecture by Lewis about the case.

“I was extremely impressed with his first-hand knowledge of the case, as well as his knowledge of its consequences,” said Brown, who helped secure Lewis’s appearance at UM.

Brown said the Times v. Sullivan decision is pertinent during a campaign season filled with political advertisements.

Richard Drake, a UM history professor and a primary organizer of the University’s President’s Lecture Series, said Lewis is a voice of authority on changes in media law in the country.

“(Lewis is) a brilliant journalist.” Drake said. “And he’s a gifted, distinguished individual with distinct knowledge about our present situation in Iraq.”

The lecture series was established in the 1980s to enrich cultural and intellectual life at the university by bringing distinguished individuals from diverse fields to speak, Drake said. Lewis is the third of 11 speakers who will visit the university as part of the series this year.

The first lecture will start at 9 a.m. in the University Center Theater on Tuesday, Oct. 26. The first presentation is geared toward UM journalism and history students. The second presentation, titled “Law and the War in Iraq,” will start at 8 p.m. in the University Theater and is part of the lecture series. Both presentations will be open to the public.

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