Blog 4: Trump, Dominion, and the First Amendment

    

    A recent news story I wanted to examine under the lens of what we have learned about the First Amendment, is the current potential lawsuit former president Donald Trump is facing from Dominion Voting. A brief overview of the situation is that because of claims the former president and his team made both during and after the recent 2020 Presidential Election that Dominion Voting, the company that owns the electronic voting machines in twenty eight different states, had altered votes and changed the outcome of the election, Dominion is trying to sue for damages, while the former president and his team claim that they are protected by the first amendment. While I know many different individuals and groups have different opinions on the last election and how it was conducted, for the sake of this discussion and how this topic relates to the first amendment, I will be operating under the assumption that the claims against Dominion Voting are false since they have yet to be proven.

    So let me start off by addressing my thoughts on the big question, in this situation is the former president and his team protected by the First Amendment? From my current understanding of the First Amendment, I do not think so. This case to me is a fairly clear case of slander and defamation which is not protected by the First Amendment, and there are a few questions that support my belief. First, is the claim being made false? Again for the sake of this discussion we are assuming it is. Second, was the claim made to someone other than the plaintiff? Since these claims were made to the public through various news outlets and press conferences, this is also true. Third, was the defendant acting with malice or disregard for the truth of their claims? Due to the lack of evidence presented by the defendant I would say this is true. Finally, were the plaintiffs harmed or damaged by the false claims? Because of the severity of the claim, that being Dominion tampered with the election which is a serious crime, and the harassment members of Dominion faced such as doxxing and death threats, this is true. Due to all of the factors above being true, at least to the best of my knowledge, the claims by the former president and his team fall under defamation, and would not be protected by the First Amendment.