Justice Thomas’s Call to Ease Libel Law

To the Editor:

Re “Justice Thomas Calls for Reconsideration of a Landmark 1964 Libel Ruling” (news article, Feb. 20):

Two points concerning Justice Clarence Thomas’s plea to abandon New York Times v. Sullivan and its progeny:

First, Justice Thomas’s cramped reading of Sullivan misses the Supreme Court’s central claim. The court wasn’t protecting freedom of the press as an end in itself but rather giving the press some latitude in facilitating, in Justice William Bre...