Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas suggested on Monday that the court should maybe reconsider libel rulings that increase the difficulty in an individual suing a media company for defamation. He disagreed with the Court's decision not to take up the case Coral Ridge v. SPLC, which would have brought New York Times v. Sullivan into question.
In his dissent, he announced "I would grant certiorari in this case to revisit the 'actual malice' standard. This case is one of many showing how New York Times and its progeny have allowed media organizations and interest groups 'to cast false aspersions on public figures with near impunity.'"
"SPLC's 'hate group' designation lumped Coral Ridge's Christian ministry with groups like the Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazis," he stated. "It placed Coral Ridge on an interactive, online 'Hate Map' and caused Coral Ridge concrete financial injury by excluding it from the AmazonSmile donation program.
Nonetheless, unable to satisfy the 'almost impossible' actual-malice standard this Court has imposed, Coral Ridge could not hold SPLC to account for what it maintains is a blatant falsehood."