MTSU Professor Larry Burris takes a look at the Alien and Sedition Acts, which, among other things, made it a crime to falsely criticize the government and government officials (2 min)...

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Back in 1798 Congress passed something called the Alien and Sedition Acts, which, among other things, made it a crime to falsely criticize the government and government officials. Federalists said the laws strengthened national security; Democrat-Republicans said the laws damaged civil liberties. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Under the acts more than a dozen newspaper editors were arrested, and most spent time in jail. The sedition part of the acts expired in 1801; the enemy aliens portion of the act, in modified form, is still law today.

Fortunately the Sedition Act not only expired, it has been repeatedly disavowed by the Supreme Court.

Today the law says in order for a public figure or public official to win a libel judgment they must show, not only that the media, in whatever form, published a false statement, but there was an actual intent to harm. This has been the law since 1964, and has been reconfirmed by the Court numerous times.

The idea behind this so-called "malice standard" is to insure robust debate on issues of public policy.

Imagine what would happen if a public figure or public official could sue you for libel at the drop of a hat. Even if there were no chance of the person winning the libel case, the suit itself could be ruinously expensive. All it would take would be one or two such law suits, and the media would stop covering public policy issues completely; it would just become too expensive.

Where we would be if the media were not allowed to discuss issues of public policy? And we're not talking about only the news media. Advertising discusses public policy issues, movies discuss public policy issues and songs discuss public policy issues.

Debate on public policy issues is at the heart of our democracy, and any candidate for any public office should make it clear their total support for this debate and discussion. - I'm Larry Burriss.