New York Times v. Sullivan

US Supreme Court decision of 1964 imposing limits on the power of public officials to bring libel suits against people who criticize their actions as public servants. The case was brought by Police Commissioner Sullivan of Montgomery, Alabama, in response to a paid advertisement in the Times that accused Sullivan's police force of brutality and repression. The Court ruled that Sullivan's case should not be sustained, finding unanimously that public officials cannot recover damages in libel suits without proof that defamatory falsehoods have been published intentionally and with actual malice.