Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell,
485 U.S. 46 (1988), was a
United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held, in a
unanimous 8–0 decision (Justice
Anthony Kennedy took no part in the consideration or decision of the case), that the
First Amendment's free-speech guarantee prohibits awarding damages to
public figures to compensate for
emotional distress intentionally inflicted upon them.
Thus,
Hustler magazine's parody of
Jerry Falwell was deemed to be within the law, because the Court found that reasonable people would not have interpreted the
parody
to contain factual claims, leading to a reversal of the jury verdict in
favor of Falwell, who had previously been awarded $150,000 in damages
by a lower court.
LINK:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hustler_Magazine_v._Falwell
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