Even before he became a Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump frequently made factually questionable pronouncements and stretched the bounds of credulity. And the real estate tycoon’s recent announcement about how he planned to “open up” U.S. libel laws if elected arguably also falls into this category.
Is such a thing possible? Theoretically, maybe. Is it likely to ever happen? No, because it would require an all-out battle against the First Amendment.
Trump has spent much of his campaign railing against the liberal media including newspapers such as the New York Times and the Washington Post, which he claims are “dishonest scum” for a variety of reasons--primarily because they write articles critical of him and his campaign platform. At a rally in Texas last week, however, the candidate expanded on his dislike of the press, and said that he planned to make it easier to sue the media if he is elected president.
“I’m going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money,” Trump said. “We’re going to open up those libel laws. So when The New York Times writes a hit piece which is a total disgrace or when The Washington Post, which is there for other reasons, writes a hit piece, we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because they’re totally protected.”
Not surprisingly, Trump’s remarks triggered outrage among the media because it amounts to a head-on attack against the principle of a free press--a fundamental element of the U.S. democratic system. But it’s likely that Trump’s promise is mostly bluster.
For one thing, there is no federal libel law for Trump to “open up.” Libel is something that is regulated at the state level, which means that to change it, the president would have to either convince all of the states to change the way they handle libel prosecution or pass a new federal law specifically governing libel. And if he were to try and do that, Trump would run into a very large obstacle known as the First Amendment.
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After Trump made his comments, an opinion writer at the New York Daily News reached out to Floyd Abrams, an attorney who is an expert in constitutional law, about the likelihood of this promise coming true. And Abrams confirmed that there is little chance. “There is no federal libel law for Trump to amend or change, and thus no role for the President at all,” Abrams said. “Fifty states have their own libel laws; the federal government has none.”