U.S. Supreme Court,
Constitutional Law
Nov. 4, 2021
The attack on NYT v. Sullivan and its impact on local journalism
Our jurists and elected officials would do well to heed Andrew Hamilton's summation nearly three centuries ago, which Founding Father Gouverneur Morris called "the germ of American freedom, the morning star of that liberty which subsequently revolutionized America."
On August 4, 1735, John Zenger watched as his lawyer, Andrew Hamilton, gave the summation in his defense against a libel charge. Zenger published The New York Weekly Journal, a lone voice of opposition to Royal Governor William Cosby. Hamilton conceded that Zenger published the accused materials but argued -- counter to controlling law from England -- that the Crown must prove the statements' falsity, for the "nature and the laws of our country have given us a right -...
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