US Supreme Court rejects Alan Dershowitz's CNN defamation appeal

Washington,UPDATED: Jun 29, 2026 23:02 IST

The US Supreme Court on Monday refused to revive a USD 300 million defamation lawsuit filed by attorney Alan Dershowitz against CNN over its coverage of remarks he made while defending Donald Trump during the president's 2020 impeachment proceedings.

The court's majority declined to take up the case in a brief, unexplained order. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissented, saying the court should reconsider the legal standards that apply when public figures bring defamation claims.

Dershowitz said CNN aired only part of a comment he made during Trump's defence, and that the edit distorted his meaning and made him appear as if he had 'lost his mind', according to court documents. CNN said several other outlets had understood his remarks in a similar way and argued that Dershowitz could not show the network was trying to misrepresent what he said.

In his appeal, Dershowitz asked the court to revisit New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the landmark First Amendment ruling that makes it harder for public figures to win libel cases. Under that standard, a claimant must show that a news outlet knowingly published something false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.

Dershowitz, a retired Harvard Law School professor and legal commentator, was part of Trump's defence team during the impeachment trial over allegations that Trump sought political favours from Ukraine in exchange for US military aid. Trump was acquitted by the Senate.

At one point, while responding to a question, Dershowitz said, 'the only thing that would make a quid pro quo unlawful is if the quo were somehow illegal.' He added that providing arms to Ukraine was not illegal. He said CNN later aired only another part of his remarks: 'Every public official that I know believes that his election is in the public interest and, mostly, they are right, your election is in the public interest, and if the president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.'

Dershowitz said that edit made it appear he was arguing that a president could avoid impeachment for illegal acts if he believed they would help him get re-elected, a concept his original lawsuit called 'preposterous and foolish on its face'. CNN, however, said it had aired his full remarks during its live coverage and had invited him on twice more to explain what he meant.

Lower courts threw out the lawsuit, finding that Dershowitz had not shown CNN acted with 'actual malice' in its reporting, falling short of the standard set by New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. The Supreme Court's decision leaves those rulings in place and ends Dershowitz's effort to revive the case.

With PTI Inputs

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