Trump failed to ‘open up our libel laws’

Donald Trump sued news organizations. He derided the press as the "enemy of the people" and "fake news." His administration denied media outlets access to press briefings and his supporters jeered at, threatened and harassed journalists.

But during his one-term presidency, Trump did not make it easier to sue news outlets for libel.

In February 2016, he made the promise. If elected president, Trump told supporters in Fort Worth, Texas, he would "open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money." 

It was always going to be an uphill battle. 

States generally create their own libel laws, making it tough for sweeping changes on the federal level. And in the 1964 case New York Times v. Sullivan, the Supreme Court ruled that, in order to successfully sue news organizations for libel, public officials had to prove "actual malice." That means the journalist either knowingly published false information or did so with "reckless disregard" for the truth.

That standard is tough to meet — only a handful of cases over the past few decades have been successful in achieving it. The Supreme Court would have to overturn Times v. Sullivan to lower that standard.

While Trump did appoint three justices to the Supreme Court, tilting its ideological leaning to the right, the court did not take up any libel cases. Congress did not introduce legislation that would have changed federal libel laws. And Trump himself has not successfully sued news organizations for libel.

We rate this Promise Broken.