Torts: Defamation and Privacy Posts
Annual Meeting Spotlight on Defamation and Privacy
Reporters Lyrissa Lidsky and Robert Post discuss the legal framework governing defamation, including how courts evaluate allegedly defamatory statements and the standards used to determine liability.
Why Unify Libel and Slander?
In the half century since the Second Restatement, the rapid development of digital communications has rendered the libel–slander distinction untenable, both theoretically and practically. It now serves no purpose except to make defamation more technical, confused, and expensive.
Project Spotlight – Restatement of the Law Third, Torts: Defamation and Privacy
Lyrissa Lidsky and Robert Post, who serve as Reporters on Restatement of the Law Third, Torts: Defamation and Privacy, provide an overview of the project.
Projects Announced for 2025 Annual Meeting
Seven project drafts will be presented at this year’s Annual Meeting, May 18-20 in Washington, D.C.
October 2025 Council Meeting Update
At its meeting on October 16 and 17, 2025, the ALI Council discussed and approved, in part or in whole, drafts of five projects.
Warren/Burger Courts Exalted “Free” Expression Over Other American Values
This article will add to the chorus criticizing The New York Times “actual malice standard,” particularly as implemented in the subsequent line of Supreme Court cases, as a fundamentally flawed and unnecessary rule.
New York Times v. Sullivan Transformed American Defamation Law From Thumper’s Rule to Incented Obloquy
This essay argues that the New York Times actual malice standard is a fundamentally flawed and unnecessary rule that has had untoward unintended consequences for our public discourse.
David Logan on American Libel Law
In a recent NPR On Point podcast episode, David A. Logan discusses American libel law, his law review article cited in Gorsuch’s Berisha v. Lawson dissent, and the potential implications the dissent may have on future libel cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Completing an ALI Project: Lessons from Reporters
Have you ever wondered what exactly goes into completing an ALI project? There’s nobody better to talk about the ALI process than four veteran Reporters whose projects may be completed at the 2021 Annual Meeting.
Completing the Restatement Third of Torts
At its January meeting, the Council approved the launch of the final three components of the Restatement Third of Torts. The projects tentatively are titled: Remedies; Defamation and Privacy; and Concluding Provisions. With these projects, the ALI aims to complete an effort that began nearly three decades ago, when we started work on the Restatement of the Law Third, Torts: Products Liability. And when these projects are completed, the ALI will have produced a body of work that entirely supersedes the Restatement Second of Torts.