Trump Wants to Undermine First Amendment

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Daily Beast better behave…or else:

Presidential candidate Donald Trump said Friday during a rally in Texas that he wants to “open up our libel laws so when [reporters] write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money.” The GOP frontrunner suggested that when he becomes president, places like The New York Times and The Washington Post, “the most dishonest media outlets I’ve ever seen in my life,” will pay for their unfavorable coverage of his campaign. He continued, “I think the media is among the most dishonest groups of people I’ve ever met. They’re terrible.”

Once he’s able to rectify the issue of “horrible” media coverage, he said, “When The New York Times writes a hit piece, which is a total disgrace, or when The Washington Post, which is there for other reasons, writes a hit-piece, we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because they’re totally protected.”

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Since 1964, when the Supreme Court ruled on “New York Times vs. Sullivan,” public individuals who wish to sue media companies for libel are required to prove that the news organization knowingly published false information with malicious intent.

The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said in 2012 that he “abhors” the ruling, saying it gives news organizations the freedom to “libel public figures at will so long as somebody told you something.”

http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/26/media/donald-trump-libel-laws/

Libel laws are STATE law, not Federal law.

Libel is against the law. Libel is also used regularly by news agencies, and it’s help determine elections.

That’s wrong.

I fail to see how what Trump said ‘undermines the First Amendment.’ The First Amendment is no protection from Libel or Slander.