John Marshall Harlan II

“ But these considerations did not persuade us to rule that the Constitution grants absolute immunity to everyone, be it the news media or anyone else, who libels a public official, or to conclude that the usual processes of law are inadequate for dealing with this kind of litigation. ”

“ Nor can I discern in those First Amendment considerations that led us to restrict the States' powers to regulate defamation of public officials any additional interest that is not served by the actual-malice rule of New York Times, supra, but is substantially promoted by utilizing this Court as the ultimate arbiter of factual disputes in those libel cases where no unusual factors, such as allegations of harassment or the existence of a jury verdict resting on erroneous instructions, cf. ”