ACLU Statement on Trump’s Comments on Libel Laws

NEW YORK — President Trump said today that he wants to “take a strong look at our country’s libel laws” in order to make it easier to win lawsuits against the news media, publishers, and others.

Brian Hauss, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, had this response:

“President Trump’s threat to revise our country’s libel laws is, frankly, not credible. There is no federal libel law, and the president does not have the authority to change state libel laws. Furthermore, the First Amendment provides strong protections against libel liability, particularly with respect to statements about public figures or matters of public concern. Whatever President Trump might think, he has no power to override these constitutional protections.”