Hustler Magazine v. Falwell
| Hustler Magazine v. Falwell | |
|---|---|
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| Argued December 2, 1987 Decided February 24, 1988 |
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| Full case name | Hustler Magazine and Larry C. Flynt, Petitioners v. Jerry Falwell |
| Citations | 485 U.S. 46 (more)
108 S. Ct. 876; 99 L. Ed. 2d 41; 1988 U.S. LEXIS 941; 56 U.S.L.W. 4180; 14 Media L. Rep. 2281
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| Argument | Oral argument |
| Prior history | Judgment for plaintiff, W.D. Va.; affirmed, 797 F.2d 1270 (4th Cir. 1986); rehearing denied, 4th Cir., 11-4-86; cert. granted, 480 U.S. 945 (1987) |
| Subsequent history | None |
| Holding | |
| Parodies of public figures which could not reasonably be taken as true are protected against civil liability by the First Amendment, even if intended to cause emotional distress. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed. | |
| Court membership | |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Rehnquist, joined by Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun, Stevens, O'Connor, Scalia |
| Concurrence | White |
| Kennedy took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. | |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. I | |
Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46 (1988), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the First and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit public figures from recovering damages for the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED), if the emotional distress was caused by a caricature, parody, or satire of the public figure that a reasonable person would not have interpreted as factual.
In an 8–0 decision, the Court ruled in favor of Hustler magazine, holding that a parody ad published in the magazine depicting televangelist and political commentator Jerry Falwell as an incestuous drunk, was protected speech since Falwell was a public figure and the parody could not have been reasonably considered believable. Therefore, the Court held that the emotional distress inflicted on Falwell by the ad was not a sufficient reason to deny the First Amendment protection to speech that is critical of public officials and public figures.
Known for its explicit pictures of nude women, crude humor, and political satire, Hustler, magazine published by Larry Flynt, printed a parody ad in its November 1983 issue that targeted Jerry Falwell, a prominent Christian fundamentalist televangelist and conservative political commentator.
The parody was mimicking the popular advertising campaigns that Campari, an Italian liqueur, was running at the time that featured brief contrived interviews with various celebrities that always started with a question about their "first time", a double-entendre intended to give the impression that the celebrities were talking about their first sexual encounters before the reveal at the end that the discussion had actually concerned the celebrities' first time tasting Campari.
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