Group Libel Law and the Limits of First Amendment Protection

Kenneth Lasson, University of Baltimore School of Law, has published "In Defense of Group-Libel Laws, or Why the First Amendment Should Not Protect Nazis," in the New York Law School Journal of Human Rights, volume 2 (1984-1985).

The author discusses group libel laws, and the underlying problems when free speech is used as a defense by those who would defame specific racial or ethnic groups and/or minorities. The topic is further explained in reference to various state laws, and the subsequent court cases extant at the time of the article's writing which defined the issue in terms of law. References are also made to such laws in countries other than the United States for the sake of comparison.

Download the paper at the link.