The vehicle is Alan Dershowitz, which honestly tracks. We\u2019ve been covering his CNN litigation saga<\/a> since the jump. Dershowitz sued CNN for $300 million<\/a> because the network failed to quote a full paragraph of his argument during Trump\u2019s impeachment \u2014 his now-infamous claim that presidents can\u2019t be impeached for acts they believe serve their own electoral interests and therefore the national interest. The Eleventh Circuit gave a big ol\u2019 nope to that complaint, so Dershowitz asked the Supreme Court to bail him out by incinerating Sullivan<\/em> entirely. Thomas and Gorsuch were delighted to help, at least in dissent. <\/a><\/p>\n Because Dershowitz is a \u201cpublic person,\u201d existing precedent required him to prove CNN acted with \u201cactual malice.\u201d He didn\u2019t. Thomas argued the actual malice rule \u201cbears no relation to the text, history, or structure of the Constitution\u201d \u2014 the movement\u2019s catechism \u2014 and stated he would have granted certiorari to overrule Sullivan<\/em> outright. Also worth noting, Eleventh Circuit Judge Barbara Lagoa wrote a concurrence in the case below agreeing that Sullivan<\/em> is constitutionally suspect. Lagoa, you may recall,<\/a> is a perennial name on Trump SCOTUS shortlists.<\/p>\n This is a hobby horse Thomas has been riding for years<\/a>, and the repetition is the point. Each dissent is another public invitation to bring him the right case. The intellectual (lol) lineage runs directly through D.C. Circuit Judge Laurence Silberman\u2019s unhinged 2021 dissent<\/a>, which called on SCOTUS to overturn Sullivan<\/em> while characterizing major newspapers as \u201cvirtually Democratic Party broadsheets.\u201d <\/p>\n And it is a movement. It runs from Trump\u2019s $475 million clownsuit against CNN<\/a> to Sarah Palin\u2019s defamation crusade<\/a> to DeSantis\u2019s legislative end-run around the First Amendment<\/a> to MAGA-aligned billionaires petitioning the Court<\/a> to two sitting justices openly recruiting the right vehicle to finish the job. As we said in the wake of Dobbs<\/em><\/a> \u2014 when people tell you who they are, believe them.<\/p>\n The cert was denied today. Sullivan<\/em> survives for now. But Thomas and Gorsuch are patient, the lower court judges who share their views keep getting confirmed to the federal bench<\/a>, and the right vehicle is coming. Every dissent like today\u2019s is a signal flare to litigants: keep trying, keep asking, we\u2019re here.<\/p>\n And if this Court ever grants cert on Sullivan<\/em>, then the end has arrived. It will be the moment the powerful obtained the right to bankrupt anyone who covers them critically. Reporters, newsrooms, independent journalists \u2014 all facing the prospect of ruinous litigation with no actual malice standard to protect them will find it increasingly difficult to hold the feet of the powerful to the fire.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve been sounding this alarm for years<\/a>, and we\u2019ll keep doing it because the First Amendment without Sullivan<\/em> is not much more than a hollow artifact.<\/p>\n Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The post Two Justices Just Signaled \u2014 Again \u2014 That They Want To Destroy Press Freedom<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n Once again, Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch have gone to the mat for their attempt to end a truly free press.<\/p>\n The Supreme Court\u2019s orders list<\/a> this morning included a cert denial that includes a quiet wake-up call for the media. In Dershowitz v. Cable News Network, Inc.<\/em>, Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Gorsuch, dissented from the denial of certiorari to once again call for the overruling of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan<\/em>\u2026 you know, the foundational First Amendment precedent protecting the free press for six decades. Cool cool cool.<\/p>\n The vehicle is Alan Dershowitz, which honestly tracks. We\u2019ve been covering his CNN litigation saga<\/a> since the jump. Dershowitz sued CNN for $300 million<\/a> because the network failed to quote a full paragraph of his argument during Trump\u2019s impeachment \u2014 his now-infamous claim that presidents can\u2019t be impeached for acts they believe serve their own electoral interests and therefore the national interest. The Eleventh Circuit gave a big ol\u2019 nope to that complaint, so Dershowitz asked the Supreme Court to bail him out by incinerating Sullivan<\/em> entirely. Thomas and Gorsuch were delighted to help, at least in dissent. <\/a><\/p>\n Because Dershowitz is a \u201cpublic person,\u201d existing precedent required him to prove CNN acted with \u201cactual malice.\u201d He didn\u2019t. Thomas argued the actual malice rule \u201cbears no relation to the text, history, or structure of the Constitution\u201d \u2014 the movement\u2019s catechism \u2014 and stated he would have granted certiorari to overrule Sullivan<\/em> outright. Also worth noting, Eleventh Circuit Judge Barbara Lagoa wrote a concurrence in the case below agreeing that Sullivan<\/em> is constitutionally suspect. Lagoa, you may recall,<\/a> is a perennial name on Trump SCOTUS shortlists.<\/p>\n This is a hobby horse Thomas has been riding for years<\/a>, and the repetition is the point. Each dissent is another public invitation to bring him the right case. The intellectual (lol) lineage runs directly through D.C. Circuit Judge Laurence Silberman\u2019s unhinged 2021 dissent<\/a>, which called on SCOTUS to overturn Sullivan<\/em> while characterizing major newspapers as \u201cvirtually Democratic Party broadsheets.\u201d <\/p>\n And it is a movement. It runs from Trump\u2019s $475 million clownsuit against CNN<\/a> to Sarah Palin\u2019s defamation crusade<\/a> to DeSantis\u2019s legislative end-run around the First Amendment<\/a> to MAGA-aligned billionaires petitioning the Court<\/a> to two sitting justices openly recruiting the right vehicle to finish the job. As we said in the wake of Dobbs<\/em><\/a> \u2014 when people tell you who they are, believe them.<\/p>\n The cert was denied today. Sullivan<\/em> survives for now. But Thomas and Gorsuch are patient, the lower court judges who share their views keep getting confirmed to the federal bench<\/a>, and the right vehicle is coming. Every dissent like today\u2019s is a signal flare to litigants: keep trying, keep asking, we\u2019re here.<\/p>\n And if this Court ever grants cert on Sullivan<\/em>, then the end has arrived. It will be the moment the powerful obtained the right to bankrupt anyone who covers them critically. Reporters, newsrooms, independent journalists \u2014 all facing the prospect of ruinous litigation with no actual malice standard to protect them will find it increasingly difficult to hold the feet of the powerful to the fire.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve been sounding this alarm for years<\/a>, and we\u2019ll keep doing it because the First Amendment without Sullivan<\/em> is not much more than a hollow artifact.<\/p>\n Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The post Two Justices Just Signaled \u2014 Again \u2014 That They Want To Destroy Press Freedom<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Once again, Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch have gone to the mat for their attempt to end a truly free press. The Supreme Court\u2019s orders list this morning included a cert denial that includes a quiet wake-up call for the media. In Dershowitz v. Cable News Network, Inc., Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Gorsuch, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":155560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-DsCx6T.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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