Nunes Libel Case Raises Actual-Malice Liability for Retweets (1)

The revival of Rep. Devin Nunes’ libel lawsuit over an Esquire article raises new questions about how the Supreme Court’s half-century-old “actual malice” standard for public figure defamation liability applies in the digital age.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled Nunes (R-Calif.) failed to plausibly allege that writer Ryan Lizza and publisher Hearst Magazine Media Inc. recklessly disregarded the truth when it first published Lizza’s article about Nunes. But it added that Lizza may have crossed the line when he sent a tweet linking to his 2018 Esquire article after he was sued for defamation over ...