Jerry Falwell V. Larry Flynt: The First Amendment on Trial

Looks at Jerry Falwell's libel suit against Larry Flynt, the publisher of Hustler magazine and explains why the Supreme Court reversed the original verdict

This discussion of the First Amendment is based on the Falwell v. Flynt libel suit, recounted in colorful detail. Smolla, a William and Mary College law professor, helped write a "friend of the court" brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, which early this year overturned a $200,000 damage award to the evangelist for "intended" infliction of emotional distress he claimed to have suffered as a result of Hustler magazine's portrayal of him engaged in drunken sex with his mother in an outhouse. Making legal complexities accessible to the lay reader, the author demonstrates how the case reflects current cultural and moral attitudes grounded in collective community judgments between opposing ideals of a pluralistic society, in which some view the Constitution as a moral charter and others believe in public access to all ideas or fields of human interest, sometimes at the expense of the privacy of public figures. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court, stresses the author, in effect extended freedom of speech beyond verifiable fact to expressions of opinion even of an offensive nature.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

When Flynt's Hustler magazine published in 1983 a bad-taste satirical ad based on Campari's series ("Campari. You'll never forget the first time.") using fundamentalist minister Falwell having sex with his mother ("Jerry Falwell talks about his first time."), Falwell sued for libel and emotional distress. Legal scholar and libel expert Smolla, author of Suing the Press , carefully and entertainingly re-creates the legal battles that resulted from the suit. Quoting depositions and trial record testimony, Smolla serves up fair-minded appraisals of Flynt, Falwell, and their interesting lawyers and raises reasonable doubts about First Amendment absolutism. Lively and provocative. Jack Forman, Mesa Coll. Lib., San Diego
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.