Legal Brief Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Legal Brief - Assignment Example In addition, Sullivan accused four black ministers named in the advertisement of erroneously accusing the police actions on protesters in Alabama. The New York Times said the suit was a way of intimidating new publishing houses, and a way of averting them from exposing unlawful actions of workers in relation to the segregation. Sullivan won the case in the trial court. The famous case of New York Times vs. Sullivan was a cry of the black people about the segregation and liberty of speech. The laws state that ‘A municipal official litigating for libel must attest that the statement in question was made with actual malevolence, rather than ordinary sense of malicious intent’ (Justia.com). Assuming that Sullivan was acting on behalf of the Alabama state and the police department of Alabama, the key issue here is, ‘Does the suing of a newspaper and black ministers who are attempting to end segregation qualify for defamation suit? Additionally, a key issue here is, ‘What constitutes actual malice, and what are the standards of speech freedom or defamation? The court ruled in favor of the New York Times as the Alabama court laws were found to be deficient. This is because there was failure to provide confines to speech defamation and freedom (Justia.com). The United States Supreme Court states clearly that the facts provided by Alabama court, even if presented under the preserve of verbal communication, were still inefficient constitutionally in the case of Sullivan (Packard, 241). The law states’ proof of actual malice was necessary in order for compensation to be honored (Justia.com). There were no dissidents as all the judges were for the ruling in favor of New York Times. The consequences of the United States verdict in favor of New York Times led to new organizations writing and reporting freely about civil rights violations, and the