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Constitutional Law Keyed to Farber
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan
Citation:
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 84 S.Ct. 710, 11 L.Ed.2d 686 (1964)ProfessorMelissa A. Hale
CaseCast™ – "What you need to know"
Facts
Sullivan was Commissioner of Public Affairs in Alabama and one of his duties in this role was supervision of the Police Department. On March 29, 1960, the New York Times published a full page advertisement, entitled “Heed Their Rising Voices,” which supported the protests of Martin Luther King, Jr. and other non-violent activists in the South and contained several references to police brutality in Montgomery. Sullivan was not named, but the Court found there were sufficient references to him as the police commissioner. The text contained some minor, and largely irrelevant, inaccuracies. Sullivan sued the paper for libel.
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