A jury has been selected for the $1.6 billion defamation trial between Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News, which is set to begin on Monday. Thousands of pages of documents have been released pretrial, giving the public a glimpse into the inner workings of Fox News and how it gave on-air credence to the baseless theory that former President Donald Trump had the 2020 election stolen from him. The trial is expected to be a long and drawn-out affair, with both sides bringing in high-powered lawyers, and could have far-reaching implications for the media industry and the strength of the First Amendment.
Posts tagged as “the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment”
A federal judge in Tennessee has granted a temporary injunction against a first-of-its-kind law that would have placed strict limits on drag shows, citing that it "missed the mark" when it came to protecting free speech. The law was signed into effect by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, a Republican, on March 2 and has been met with strong opposition from the LGBTQ+ community. The case is ongoing and a hearing is scheduled for April 13 to determine if the law will be allowed to take effect or if it will be permanently blocked by the court.
A Delaware judge has ruled that a jury must decide whether Fox News acted with actual malice when it aired false allegations about the 2020 presidential election. The defamation case was brought against the conservative network by Dominion Voting Systems and emails and text messages from Fox News executives and on-air personalities will become public as part of the lawsuit. The outcome of the trial could set a precedent for how news networks cover future elections.
Dominion Voting Systems' presentation has revealed an email sent by Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott to the company's chairman, Rupert Murdoch, warning of the financial fallout if the network continued to fact-check Donald Trump's lies after the 2020 election. The presentation is part of Dominion's $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, and Fox has responded by saying they will "vigorously defend" themselves against the "baseless claims." Murdoch had said Trump's claims were "pretty much a crime," and Scott had said the documents "demonstrate Dominion's continued reliance on cherry-picked quotes without context."
Key takeaways: Jack Daniel’s is suing a dog toy company for parodying their whiskey bottle The toy company argues that the toy is an obvious…
Key takeaways: Dominion Voting Systems is suing Fox News for defamation, claiming that Fox’s false statements about the company caused it to suffer reputational and…
The Supreme Court declined to take up an appeal from the city of Ocala, Florida, concerning a prayer vigil held in response to a local shooting spree. The vigil was challenged by individuals who argued it violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Neil Gorsuch dissented from the decision, suggesting the court should take up a similar case in the future. The case highlights the difficulty of determining when a government action crosses the line into unconstitutional territory, and leaves the door open for similar cases to be heard in the future.