Suing the Media is not Easy

During the campaign, candidate Trump said he'd get even for the fake news about him.

"All of these liars will be sued after the election."

But it may not be as easy as President Trump thinks.

Constitutional law professor Josh Blackman at South Texas College of Law-Houston says a judge's ruling in a defamation lawsuit involving CNN doesn't help.

"Public figures have a much harder time filing lawsuits; they need to actually show the person who defamed them actually knew what they were saying was false."

Blackman says it's even less likely a Trump suit could win now that he's President.

"This decision does little to help President Trump; if he decides to sue someone he has a much higher threshold to meet."

But Professor Blackman supports Texas' so-called anti-SLAPP law.

"If someone brings some sort of lawsuit to shut you up this gets it before a judge very quickly and allows him to determine if this is a an actual legitimate defamation action or is it merely an effort to shut you up and get the court to get rid of you."

CNN was sued for defamation after a series of reports about a high infant mortality rate at a Florida hospital.


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