The Curious Lawyer: Jail for Speech – Criminal Libel Laws

This episode of the Curious Lawyer takes you on an odyssey through the country’s history with jail-for-speech in criminal libel prosecutions. In this fascinating latest installment of the Curious Lawyer series, host Peter Afrasiabi you on an intriguing look at pre-Republic, post-Republic Sedition Act prosecutions and modern 20th century and even 21st century decisions on criminal libel. At various moments we listen in on various Supreme Court oral arguments over the decades on criminal libel and answer key questions: Can you be punished criminally for libeling someone in the 21st century? What is the exact standard today? And if the seminal New York Times v. Sullivan “actual malice” decision is reversed as Justice Thomas has long argued, what will that mean for criminal libel standards? With stops along the way on state laws that criminalize questioning a woman’s chastity to imprisoning labor leader Harry Bridges during the Korean War for speaking against the nation’s war effort to even famed JFK conspiracy theory prosecutor Jim Garrison’s criminal conviction for his libelous speech about judges in his community, this will be a fun, entertaining and educational look at criminal libel law.