A Duty to Impeach: Libel and Modern Liberalism after Dobbs

The conservative legal establishment is waging war on modern liberalism with Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization marking its most recent victory. Against this backdrop, this Article contends that attacks from the right on New York Times Co. v. Sullivan—the Court’s defining First Amendment decision that places political speech at the center of free speech doctrine—are motivated not by bona fide doctrinal disagreements but rather the cynical belief that the specter of defamation liability unrestrained by Sullivan will silence political opponents and, in turn, hasten the end of modern liberalism. So while the battle over Sullivan may not have the same partisan salience as attacks on Roe v. Wade, the political implications of overruling Sullivan are nevertheless vast.