Explain the importance and impact of New York Times v. Sullivan.

What will be an ideal response?

A description of case circumstances: (a) civil rights leaders purchased an informational advertisement in The New York Times, (b) a civil rights case in which Southern officials wanted to drive out Northern reporters, (c) jury awarded Sullivan $500,000, a decision the Alabama Supreme Court upheld. Supreme Court opinion authored by Justice William Brennan: (a) applied actual malice standard to cases involving public official plaintiffs; actual malice is knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth, and (b) principle soon thereafter extended to public figure plaintiffs. Brennan’s rationale: (a) “breathing space” needed by the press and citizen-critics, (b) debate on issues of public importance should be “uninhibited, robust, and wide open,” and (c) applied First Amendment to libel; without this added protection, freedom of the press is violated; arguably resulted in a more aggressive press, witness subsequent coverage of civil rights, Vietnam, Watergate, etc.