Supreme Court Weighs Dershowitz Bid to Revisit 1964 Sullivan Defamation Standard

1 articles · Updated · SCOTUSblog · May 21

Justices are set to consider Alan Dershowitz’s petition at a private conference Thursday, putting his defamation fight with CNN on the Supreme Court’s agenda for the first time.
The case asks the court to clarify whether repeated omission of qualifying language from a recorded statement can show actual malice and to reconsider limits of the 1964 New York Times v. Sullivan standard.
The 11th Circuit in August 2025 upheld summary judgment for CNN, finding Dershowitz—treated as a public figure—offered no evidence the network knowingly aired falsehoods or acted with reckless disregard.
CNN told the court last month that Florida has embedded the actual-malice rule in state defamation law, so Dershowitz would still lose even if Sullivan were narrowed, and called the precedent a constitutional cornerstone.
Orders from Thursday’s conference are expected Tuesday, when the court could signal whether it will take up a fresh challenge to one of modern U.S. press-protection doctrines.

As the Supreme Court reconsiders a key defamation ruling, what new balance will be struck between free press and individual reputation?

Does the confrontational style of oral arguments now signal a case's outcome more reliably than legal precedent?

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