Libel Law Expert: Liz Cheney is Still Wrong About Libel

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.


Liz Cheney has already gotten some flak from this blog for claiming on live television that calling waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation techniques” torture is “frankly libelous.” Now Mother Jones‘ own legal adviser, James Chadwick, has decided to drop some knowledge. Here’s what he says:

Liz Cheney’s been reading too much George Orwell and not enough first amendment. You can’t libel the government, and statements of opinion can’t be libelous. I think Liz Cheney would be particularly interested in defending the idea that what constitutes torture is a matter of opinion because if not, her father might be in a lot of trouble. She’s not talking about specific allegations about specific people. She’s talking about people saying what the US government did… was torture.

One of the reasons the founding fathers established the first amendment was to do away with the idea of seditious libel – libeling the king. You cannot be sued for saying bad things about the government, period.

If you do talk about specific individuals sanctioning torture, then all those individuals are unquestionably public figures, which requires the highest standard of proof that there is in civil law. “Clear and convincing evidence of actual knowledge of falsity, a reckless disregard of the truth.” I don’t think anyone can say it’s actionable to call waterboarding torture.

Bottom line: Liz Cheney doesn’t know what the heck she’s talking about.

PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

payment methods

PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate