US Supreme Court rejects Dershowitz's $300m defamation suit against CNN

The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a $300 million defamation lawsuit filed by former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz against CNN, leaving intact the landmark legal standard that makes it difficult for public figures to win libel cases against news organisations.

The court offered no explanation for its refusal, as is customary. Conservative justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch dissented, with Thomas writing that the "actual malice" standard public figures must meet is too "exacting" and "bears no relation to the text, history, or structure of the Constitution."

Dershowitz, 87, filed the suit in 2020 after CNN aired edited footage of remarks he made while defending then-President Donald Trump during his first Senate impeachment trial over the Ukraine affair.

He alleged the editing made it falsely appear he had argued that a president could commit virtually any act to secure re-election without it constituting grounds for impeachment — a position he called "preposterous and foolish on its face."

CNN maintained it aired Dershowitz's full remarks and twice invited him back on air to clarify his position after he complained.

A federal court in Florida and the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals both dismissed the suit, finding Dershowitz had not demonstrated that CNN acted with "actual malice" — that is, that the network knowingly published false information or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.

That standard derives from the Supreme Court's 1964 ruling in New York Times Co v Sullivan, which erected a high bar for public figures pursuing defamation claims, grounded in First Amendment protections for a free press.

In his appeal, Dershowitz urged the court to reconsider Sullivan, calling it an "impregnable fortress that protects media irresponsibility while denying public figures any remedy for egregious misrepresentations." CNN's lawyers countered that the ruling is a "cornerstone of modern constitutional law" and essential to free expression in a democratic society.

Monday's refusal to hear the case leaves Sullivan in place. In a statement to NBC News, Dershowitz said he still believed the court would "eventually change that standard."

Thomas and Gorsuch have previously signalled openness to revisiting Sullivan, but the court's majority has repeatedly declined to do so.