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This is an out of court settlement, not a trial result. Had it gone to trial, truth is an absolute defense to libel, so there's still no first amendment concern
by pmiller2 10y ago
This is an out of court settlement, not a trial result. Had it gone to trial, truth is an absolute defense to libel, so there's still no first amendment concern.
- Retric 10y agoThe courts are part of the government. And settling only has meaning due to the laws that govern free speech. PS: It's not may make no law, except the kind that let's politicians sue people.
- pmiller2 10y agoThis is one private party suing another private party. All the court did is accept a settlement offer (which probably took place even before the trial itself started, so there wasn't even any actual finding of fact).
- Retric 10y agoWhich only happened because of how the court would have likely responded. If a judge would have thrown out the case in 5 minutes then there would have been no settlement.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]