Alan Dershowitz goes all in at SCOTUS, suggests landmark precedent 'should be discarded' [View all]

Source: Law & Crime

Jan 6th, 2026, 9:33 am


Alan Dershowitz vowed to take his thus far failed defamation case against CNN all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to challenge the landmark 1964 precedent set by New York Times v. Sullivan, a gambit that would change defamation law as we know it, and to the delight of Justice Clarence Thomas, if the court takes up the case and it succeeds.

Attorney Jay Sekulow, like Dershowitz, defended President Donald Trump at his first impeachment trial, which scrutinized Trump's Ukraine aid impoundment but ended in his acquittal. Now, more than five years later, Sekulow and the American Center for Law and Justice are defending the famed criminal defense attorney and Harvard Law School professor emeritus for what he said during the Trump trial.

The petition for a writ of certiorari has officially been in the cards since November, when Dershowitz sought an extension from Thomas to file. The justice, who handles cases from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, granted that extension. Dershowitz then filed the petition on Dec. 29, following through on his September remarks to Law&Crime.

In the petition, which follows the federal district court's dismissal of his case and the 11th Circuit's affirming of that dismissal, Dershowitz made clear that he believes SCOTUS should seize the opportunity to overturn Times v. Sullivan, which established the "actual malice" standard for public officials and public figures alleging defamation.

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/alan-dershowitz-follows-through-on-vow-to-overturn-landmark-scotus-defamation-precedent-after-loss-to-cnn/