I have read every word of the links you posted. If anything, they make my point. I am not claiming that the 1st amendment and libel law do not intersect. The

I have read every word of the links you posted. If anything, they make my point. I am not claiming that the 1st amendment and libel law do not intersect. They are quite intimately entwined! Libel laws exist for a reason: because a person has a right to maintain his or her good name in the face of false allegations. The ability to bring suit is one of our legal system's methods of protecting that right. Libel laws (which provide truth as an absolute defense) have been found to be constitutionally valid in multiple court cases over the years. I am a bit puzzled why there was even a settlement at all. Had this gone to trial, there are enough living witnesses to the creation of email as we know it in the early 70s that the case should likely have been dismissed as without merit. There's clearly something going on here that's not in the article, but it's not first amendment shenanigans.