Alarms raised about DeSantis journalist lawsuit bill: 'Never seen anything remotely like this'
Raw StoryFree press advocates are raising alarms about Florida Gov. As Politico reports, the new bill would loosen libel laws that for decades have protected journalists from lawsuits from public figures. The goal of the legislation, writes Politico, appears to be to "spark a larger legal battle with the goal of eventually overturning New York Times v. Sullivan, the landmark 1964 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that limits public officials’ ability to sue publishers for defamation." “I have never seen anything remotely like this legislation,” he said. “I can’t say I have seen every bill ever introduced, but I’d be quite surprised if any state Legislature had seriously considered such a brazen and blatantly unconstitutional attack on speech and press freedoms.” DeSantis has been notoriously combative with non-conservative media outlets and typically only gives interviews with friendly outlets such as Fox News.
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Ron DeSantis administration faces lawsuit over ‘coercive threats’ to derail Florida’s abortion rights campaign
The Independent
Florida newspapers sue DeSantis for ‘covering up Covid reports’
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