The GOP-backed bills to make it easier to sue the news media in Florida face opposition from conservatives, including Republican U.S. Rep. Cory Mills and the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity, who call the measures unconstitutional.
“This bill is encouraging the state to violate its citizens’ fundamental rights as Americans and is not only unpatriotic, but it is not representative of the free state of Florida,” Mills wrote in a letter to leaders of the Florida House and Senate last week.
But on Friday, Florida House Speaker Paul Renner said in response that the House bill, in fact, was meant to challenge established constitutional law. He said the goal was to trigger legal challenges that would result in the U.S. Supreme Court overturning established precedents on defamation laws, most notably the Times vs. Sullivan decision.
