Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Alan M. Dershowitz v. Cable News Network, Inc.
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, No. 23-11270 · judgment August 29, 2025
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Questions presented
As the District Court explained, “Of course, Dershowitz said nothing of the kind[.]” App. 71a. The court was referring to how CNN defamed Professor Alan Dershowitz by systematically distorting his Senate floor statement in deliberately omitting his crucial qualifying language. The result was to turn Dershowitz’s meaning on its head. Yet the Eleventh Circuit ruled that CNN’s omission of crucial portions of a statement could not establish actual malice. This holding creates a circuit split and highlights how New York Times Co. v. Sullivan’s actual-malice standard has devolved into near-absolute immunity for media defendants, even when they profoundly misrepresent verifiable public statements. The questions presented are:
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Whether a defendant’s systematic omission of qualifying and limiting language from a plaintiff’s recorded statement constitutes proof of actual malice under New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964), sufficient to survive summary judgment, as the Second, Third, Fifth, and Ninth Circuits have held, and contrary to what the Eleventh Circuit held below.
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Whether the actual malice standard established in Sullivan, or as extended by its progeny, should be discarded altogether or at least as to private citizens who are public figures.
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Whether this Court should modify Sullivan’s clear-and-convincing and burden-of-proof evidentiary standards.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Jay Alan Sekulow
American Center for Law and Justice
For respondent
Katherine M. Bolger
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Argument & decision
Decided June 29, 2026.
Proceedings
- Jun 29 2026Petition DENIED. Justice Thomas, with whom Justice Gorsuch joins, dissenting from the denial of certiorari. (Detached Opinion)
- Jun 22 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/25/2026.
- Jun 15 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/18/2026.
- Jun 08 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/11/2026.
- Jun 01 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/4/2026.
- May 26 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/28/2026.
- May 05 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/21/2026.
- May 01 2026Reply of petitioner Alan M. Dershowitz filed. (Distributed)
- Apr 17 2026Brief of respondent Cable News Network, Inc. in opposition filed.
- Apr 14 2026Brief amicus curiae of David Boyle filed.
- Feb 27 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including April 17, 2026.
- Feb 25 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response from March 19, 2026 to April 17, 2026, submitted to The Clerk.
- Feb 17 2026Response Requested. (Due March 19, 2026)
- Feb 04 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/20/2026.
- Jan 30 2026Waiver of right of respondent Cable News Network, Inc. to respond filed.
- Dec 29 2025Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 30, 2026)
- Nov 06 2025Application (25A525) granted by Justice Thomas extending the time to file until December 29, 2025.
- Nov 04 2025Application (25A525) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from November 27, 2025 to January 26, 2026, submitted to Justice Thomas.