The US Supreme Court rejected a bid from former Las Vegas Casino Mogul Steve Wynn to consider hearing arguments against a long -term legal precedent that gives media organizations broad protection from damages.
On Monday, the court denied Wynn’s petition to go through the New York Times against Sullivan, a landmark 1964 decision that set the benchmark for defamation cases in the country, as part of his ongoing legal struggle with Associated Press.
The Court did not include comments with its denial.
Wynn, 83, appeals against Nevada’s Supreme Court’s decision to maintain a lower court’s dismissal of a civil rights against the media withdrawal and reporter Regina Garcia Cano, which the former casino developer submitted in response to an AP story 2018 on two women who claimed Wynn committed sexual misunderstanding in the 1970s.
Wynn has denied the charges.
In a statement on Monday, Wynn’s lawyers said they “regret” the court’s decision but remain steadily in their claim that “merit and facts in this case are clear and convincing.”
“While Associated Press and its reporter Regina Garcia Cano can claim victory, it is the American people who have lost today,” said a statement from Wynn’s legal lawyer. “The fact that the media is free to publish demonstrating false stories transforms the first amendment on the head.”
Following Nevada’s highest court decision in September, the AP said it was “very satisfied” and would seek compensation for legal costs through a lower court.
Wynn and his legal team had strived to turn important parts of Times v. Sullivan, who concluded that there must be proof that “actual evil” for a public person could conduct a claim for defects.
In Nevada, the Court found that Wynn failed to present “clear and convincing evidence to reasonably conclude that the publication was made with actual evil”, which led to his suit being dismissed.
When he argued for the Supreme Court to reconsider, Wynn’s lawyers said that the “actual evil” frame should be “abundant completely.”
“Journalism has become a” privileged profession “under the Sullivan regime,” Wynn’s legal lawyer wrote. “No legitimate constitutional interest is served by liberating journalists from professional misunderstandings.”
Contact David Danzis at ddanzis@ theplayerlounge.com or 702-383-0378. Follow @AC2vegas-danzis.bsky.social or @AC2vegas_danzis on X.
