I'm working on a draft article with this title, and I thought I'd serialize it here, since I still have plenty of time to improve it; I'd love to hear your thoughts on it! (You can also read the whole article here; all the posts about it will go into this thread.)
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Sometimes lies are constitutionally punishable: consider libel, false statements to government investigators, fraudulent charitable fundraising, and more. (I speak here of lies in the sense of knowing or reckless falsehoods, rather than honest mistakes.) But sometimes even deliberate lies are constitutionally protected. In New York Times v. Sullivan, the Court held that even deliberate lies (said with "actual malice") about the government are constitutionally protected. And in United States v. Alvarez, five of the Justices agreed that lies about "about philosophy, religion, history, the social sciences, the arts, and the like" are generally protected.
The Supreme Court hasn't explained where the line is drawn, and that leaves unclear where important areas of controversy—such as laws punishing lies in election campaigns—should fall. In this short article, I hope to offer an account that makes sense of the precedents, and offers a framework for making future decisions.
[I.] Punishable Lies
The Supreme Court has held that defamation, perjury, fraudulent attempts to get money, speech actionable under the false light tort, and lies that inflict severe emotional distress are all constitutionally unprotected....
The Alberta government under Premier Danielle Smith has banned gender-affirming health care for youth in the province. Hear Rachel Gilmore and More: A Tyee Event on Battling Online Lies The Tyee ...