News & Opinion

The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled 9-7 against citizen journalist Priscilla Villarreal who sued Laredo police for damages after they arrested her for publishing identities of suicide and car crash victims that she obtained from a police officer. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) is seeking review from the U.S. Supreme Court. (Washington Examiner, January 24, 2024, by Kaelan Deese) In dissent Judge Don Willett criticized the granting of qualified immunity

The New York Supreme Court refused to dismiss Smartmatic’s $2.9 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News. The court also ruled that Smartmatic must answer Fox claims that the defamation lawsuit restricted its free speech. (CNBC, January 25, 2024, by Jane C. Timm) Fox is contending that the billions in damages would quell the news outlet’s free speech. Smartmatic is asking for over three times what Fox paid Dominion Voting to settle their defamation lawsuit. (Courthouse

In a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, Florida is contending that Facebook and X have the standing of telephone companies so the First Amendment does not give them censorship powers over their users. (CBS News, January 22, 2024, by CBS Miami Team) Twenty Republican state officials sided with Florida over whether states could regulate social media companies in controlling content. Their reasoning is that companies are different from newspapers in that they serve the