Appeal in Palin's defamation case unlikely to erode press protections, legal experts say
CBSN
Washington — Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's as-yet unsuccessful legal battle against the New York Times has breathed new life into the debate over whether courts should reconsider First Amendment protections for the press that have been in place for more than half a century.
And while a pair of conservative justices on the Supreme Court has indicated a willingness to revisit the landmark 1964 decision that set the bar for public figures to prove defamation by news outlets, legal experts believe Palin's case won't be the one that satisfies their charge.
"The broader significance of the Palin case has really been overrated generally. I think this is more of a one-off," said David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition who represented Mother Jones in a defamation suit. "I don't think this is the beginning of the death knell for Times v. Sullivan, but because it's in New York City, because it's Sarah Palin, because it's the New York Times, it's gotten enormous attention."
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.