Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/360/564/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 08:25:37+00:00

Document:
When petitioner was Acting Director of the Office of Rent Stabilization and respondents were subordinate officials of the same office, petitioner caused to be issued a press release announcing his intention to suspend respondents because of the part which they had played in formulating a plan for the utilization of certain agency funds. The plan had been severely criticized on the floor of Congress, and the congressional criticism had been widely reported in the press. Respondents sued petitioner for libel, alleging malice.
Held: Petitioner's plea of absolute privilege in defense of the alleged libel must be sustained. Pp. 360 U. S. 564-578.
103 U.S.App.D.C. 176, 256 F.2d 890, reversed.
For judgment of the Court and opinion of MR. JUSTICE HARLAN, joined by MR. JUSTICE FRANKFURTER, MR. JUSTICE CLARK and MR. JUSTICE WITTAKER, see pp. 360 U. S. 564-576.
For concurring opinion of MR. JUSTICE BLACK, see p. 360 U. S. 576.
For dissenting opinion of MR. CHIEF JUSTICE WARREN, joined by MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS, see p. 360 U. S. 578.
For dissenting opinion of MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN, see p. 360 U. S. 586.
For dissenting opinion of MR. JUSTICE STEWART, see p. 360 U. S. 592.
MR. JUSTICE HARLAN announced the judgment of the Court, and delivered an opinion in which MR. JUSTICE FRANKFURTER, MR. JUSTICE CLARK, and MR. JUSTICE WHITTAKER join.
which now and again come into sharp conflict -- on the one hand, the protection of the individual citizen against pecuniary damage caused by oppressive or malicious action on the part of officials of the Federal Government, and, on the other, the protection of the public interest by shielding responsible governmental officers against the harassment and inevitable hazards of vindictive or ill founded damage suits brought on account of action taken in the exercise of their official responsibilities.
This is a libel suit, brought in the District Court of the District of Columbia by respondents, former employees of the Office of Rent Stabilization. The alleged libel was contained in a press release issued by the office on February 5, 1953, at the direction of petitioner, then its Acting Director. [Footnote 1] The circumstances which gave rise to the issuance of the release follow.
and restored to permanent status should the agency's life, in fact, be extended.
Some two and a half years later, on January 28, 1953, the Office of Rent Stabilization received a letter from Senator John J. Williams of Delaware, inquiring about the terminal leave payments made under the plan in 1950. Respondent Madigan drafted a reply to the letter, which he did not attempt to bring to the attention of petitioner, and then prepared a reply which he sent to petitioner's office for his signature as Acting Director of the agency. Petitioner was out of the office, and a secretary signed the submitted letter, which was then delivered by Madigan to Senator Williams on the morning of February 3, 1953.
"to say the least it is an unjustifiable raid on the Federal Treasury, and heads of every agency in the Government who have condoned this practice should be called to task."
The letter above referred to was ordered printed in the Congressional Record. Other Senators joined in the attack on the plan. [Footnote 4] Their comments were widely reported in the press on February 5, 1953, and petitioner, in his capacity as Acting Director of the agency, received a large number of inquiries from newspapers and other news media as to the agency's position on the matter.
Respondents sued, charging that the press release, in itself, and as coupled with the contemporaneous news reports of senatorial reaction to the plan, defamed them to their injury, and alleging that its publication and terms had been actuated by malice on the part of petitioner. Petitioner defended, inter alia, on the ground that the issuance of the press release was protected by either a qualified or an absolute privilege. The trial court overruled these contentions, and instructed the jury to return a verdict for respondents if it found the release defamatory. The jury found for respondents.
privilege." 355 U. S. 171, 173. On remand, the Court of Appeals held that the press release was protected by a qualified privilege, but that there was evidence from which a jury could reasonably conclude that petitioner had acted maliciously, or had spoken with lack of reasonable grounds for believing that his statement was true, and that either conclusion would defeat the qualified privilege. Accordingly, it remanded the case to the District Court for retrial. 103 U.S.App.D.C. 176, 256 F.2d 890. At this point, petitioner again sought, and we again granted, certiorari, 358 U.S. 917, to determine whether, in the circumstances of this case, petitioner's claim of absolute privilege should have stood as a bar to maintenance of the suit despite the allegations of malice made in the complaint.
"In exercising the functions of his office, the head of an Executive Department, keeping within the limits of his authority, should not be under an apprehension that the motives that control his official conduct may, at any time, become the subject of inquiry in a civil suit for damages. It would seriously cripple the proper and effective administration of public affairs as entrusted to the executive branch of the government, if he were subjected to any such restraint. He may have legal authority to act, but he may have such large discretion in the premises that it will not always be his absolute duty to exercise the authority with which he is invested. But if he acts, having authority, his conduct cannot be made the foundation of a suit against him personally for damages, even if the circumstances show that he is not disagreeably impressed by the fact that his action injuriously affects the claims of particular individuals. [Footnote 8] "
"It does indeed go without saying that an official, who is, in fact, guilty of using his powers to vent his spleen upon others, or for any other personal motive not connected with the public good, should not escape liability for the injuries he may so cause; and, if it were possible in practice to confine such complaints to the guilty, it would be monstrous to deny recovery. The justification for doing so is that it is impossible to know whether the claim is well founded until the case has been tried, and that to submit all officials, the innocent as well as the guilty, to the burden of a trial and to the inevitable danger of its outcome, would dampen the ardor of all but the most resolute, or the most irresponsible, in the unflinching discharge of their duties. Again and again the public interest calls for action which may turn out to be founded on a mistake, in the face of which an official may later find himself hard put to it to satisfy a jury of his good faith. There must indeed be means of punishing public officers who have been truant to their duties; but that is quite another matter from exposing such as have been honestly mistaken to suit by anyone who has suffered from their errors. As is so often the case, the answer must be found in a balance between the evils inevitable in either alternative.
In this instance, it has been thought in the end better to leave unredressed the wrongs done by dishonest officers than to subject those who try to do their duty to the constant dread of retaliation. . . ."
"The decisions have, indeed, always imposed as a limitation upon the immunity that the official's act must have been within the scope of his powers, and it can be argued that official powers, since they exist only for the public good, never cover occasions where the public good is not their aim, and hence, that to exercise a power dishonestly is necessarily to overstep its bounds. A moment's reflection shows, however, that that cannot be the meaning of the limitation without defeating the whole doctrine. What is meant by saying that the officer must be acting within his power cannot be more than that the occasion must be such as would have justified the act if he had been using his power for any of the purposes on whose account it was vested in him. . . ."
at 498 -- which must provide the guide in delineating the scope of the rule which clothes the official acts of the executive officer with immunity from civil defamation suits.
"The claim of an unworthy purpose does not destroy the privilege. Legislators are immune from deterrents to the uninhibited discharge of their legislative duty not for their private indulgence, but for the public good. One must not expect uncommon courage even in legislators. The privilege would be of little value if they could be subjected to the cost and inconvenience and distractions of a trial upon a conclusion of the pleader, or to the hazard of a judgment against them based upon a jury's speculation as to motives."
Tenney v. Brandhove, 341 U. S. 367, 341 U. S. 377.
We are told that we should forbear from sanctioning any such rule of absolute privilege lest it open the door to wholesale oppression and abuses on the part of unscrupulous government officials. It is perhaps enough to say that fears of this sort have not been realized within the wide area of government where a judicially formulated absolute privilege of broad scope has long existed. It seems to us wholly chimerical to suggest that what hangs in the balance here is the maintenance of high standards of conduct among those in the public service. To be sure, as with any rule of law which attempts to reconcile fundamentally antagonistic social policies, there may be occasional instances of actual injustice which will go unredressed, but we think that price a necessary one to pay for the greater good. And there are, of course, other sanctions than civil tort suits available to deter the executive official who may be prone to exercise his functions in an unworthy and irresponsible manner. We think that we should not be deterred from establishing the rule which we announce today by any such remote forebodings.
Petitioner was appointed Acting Director of the agency effective February 9, 1953. On February 5, he occupied that position by designation of the retiring Director, who was absent from the city.
"No part of the funds of, or available for expenditure by any corporation or agency included in this Act, including the government of the District of Columbia, shall be available to pay for annual leave accumulated by any civilian officer or employee during the calendar year 1950 and unused at the close of business on June 30, 1951. . . ."
The General Accounting Office subsequently ruled that the payments were illegal, and respondents were required to return them. Respondent Madigan challenged this determination in the Court of Claims, which held that the plan was not in violation of law. Madigan v. United States, 142 Ct.Cl. 641.
The plan was referred to by various Senators as "a highly questionable procedure," a "raid on the Federal Treasury," "a conspiracy to defraud the Government of funds," "a new racket," and as "definitely involv[ing] criminal action." It was suggested that it might constitute "a conspiracy by the head of an agency to defraud the Government of money," and that "it is highly irregular, if not actually immoral, for the heads of agencies to use any such device. . . ." 99 Cong.Rec. 868-871.
"William G. Barr, Acting Director of Rent Stabilization today served notice of suspension on the two officials of the agency who, in June, 1950, were responsible for the plan which allowed 53 of the agency's 2,681 employees to take their accumulated annual leave in cash."
"Mr. Barr's appointment as Acting Director becomes effective Monday, February 9, 1953, and the suspension of these employees will be his first act of duty. The employees are John J. Madigan, Deputy Director for Administration, and Linda Matteo, Director of Personnel."
"'In June, 1950,' Mr. Barr stated,"
"my position in the agency was not one of authority which would have permitted me to stop the action. Furthermore, I did not know about it until it was almost completed."
" When I did learn that certain employees were receiving cash annual leave settlements and being returned to agency employment on a temporary basis, I specifically notified the employees under my supervision that, if they applied for such cash settlements, I would demand their resignations, and the record will show that my immediate employees complied with my request."
" While I was advised that the action was legal, I took the position that it violated the spirit of the Thomas Amendment, and I violently opposed it. Monday, February 9th, when my appointment as Acting Director becomes effective, will be the first time my position in the agency has permitted me to take any action on this matter, and the suspension of these employees will be the first official act I shall take."
"Mr. Barr also revealed that he has written to Senator Joseph McCarthy, Chairman of the Committee on Government Operations, and to Representative John Phillips, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Independent Offices Appropriations, requesting an opportunity to be heard on the entire matter."
U.S.Const., Art. I, § 6. See Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U. S. 168.
See also Cooper v. O'Connor, 69 App.D.C. 100, 99 F.2d 135; compare Brown v. Shimabukuro, 73 App.D.C.194, 118 F.2d 17.
The communication in Spalding v. Vilas was not distributed to the general public, but only to a particular segment thereof which had a special interest in the subject matter. Statements issued at the direction of Cabinet officers and disseminated to the press in the form of press releases have also been accorded an absolute privilege, so long as their contents and the occasion for their issuance relate to the duties and functions of the particular department. Mellon v. Brewer, 57 App.D.C. 126, 18 F.2d 168; Glass v. Ickes, 73 App.D.C. 3, 117 F.2d 273.
As to suits for defamation see, e.g., Taylor v. Glotfelty, 201 F.2d 51; Smith v. O'Brien, 66 App.D.C. 387, 88 F.2d 769; De Arnaud v. Ainsworth, 24 App.D.C. 167; Farr v. Valentine, 38 App.D.C. 413; United States to use of Parravicino v. Brunswick, 63 App.D.C. 65, 69 F.2d 383; Carson v. Behlen, 136 F.Supp. 222; Tinkofl v. Campbell, 86 F.Supp. 331; Miles v. McGrath, 4 F.Supp. 603. See also, as to other torts, Jones v. Kennedy, 73 App.D.C. 292, 121 F.2d 40; Adams v. Home Owners' Loan Corp., 107 F.2d 139; Gregoire v. Biddle, supra; De Busk v. Harvin, 212 F.2d 143; Lang v. Wood, 67 App.D.C. 287, 92 F.2d 211.
"Not only were there no records, but the government provided neither an office nor clerical assistance. As far back as December, 1791, Attorney General Randolph, through President Washington, without success had urged Congress to provide a clerk. President Madison, when it became evident that residence at Washington had greatly increased the Attorney General's labor, in 1816 urged that he be supplied with 'the usual appurtenances to a public office.' A bill to provide offices and a clerk came to the Senate floor on January 10, 1817. . . . Thirty years had passed since the federal government was first organized. Now, Congress provided offices in the Treasury and a clerk at $1,000 a year, with an additional small contingent fund of $500 for such essentials as stationery, fuel, and 'a boy to attend the menial duties.'"
The record indicates that, in 1950, the Office of Housing Expediter had some 2,500 employees.
61 Stat. 193. See 16 Fed.Reg. 7630.
Compare 32 U. S. Macdaniel, 7 Pet. 1, 32 U. S. 14; United States v. Birdsall, 233 U. S. 223, 233 U. S. 230-231.
I concur in the reversal of this judgment, but briefly summarize my reasons because they are not altogether the same as those stated in the opinion of MR. JUSTICE HARLAN.
the subject matter discussed in the release was germane to the proper functioning of the Rent Stabilization Agency and Mr. Barr's duties in relation to it. In fact, at the time the release was issued, congressional inquiries were being made into the operations of the Agency and the controversy upon which the threatened suspensions were based, and the press release revealed that Barr had requested an opportunity to testify before a Congressional Committee with respect to the whole dispute.
The effective functioning of a free government like ours depends largely on the force of an informed public opinion. This calls for the widest possible understanding of the quality of government service rendered by all elective or appointed public officials or employees. Such an informed understanding depends, of course, on the freedom people have to applaud or to criticize the way public employees do their jobs, from the least to the most important.
beyond the scope of Mr. Barr's official business, but instead related more or less to general matters committed by law to his control and supervision. See Spalding v. Vilas, 161 U. S. 483, 161 U. S. 493, 498-499.
* This case concerns District of Columbia law. In a companion case, Howard v. Lyons, post, p. 360 U. S. 593, the Court rejects an attempt to hold a federal employee liable under the libel law of Massachusetts.
The principal opinion in this case purports to launch the Court on a balancing process in order to reconcile the interest of the public in obtaining fearless executive performance and the interest of the individual in having redress for defamation. Even accepting for the moment that these are the proper interests to be balanced, the ultimate disposition is not the result of a balance. On the one hand, the principal opinion sets up a vague standard under which no government employee can tell with any certainty whether he will receive absolute immunity for his acts. On the other hand, it has not given even the slightest consideration to the interest of the individual who is defamed. It is a complete annihilation of his interest.
"For reasons of public policy, the same protection would, no doubt, be given to anything in the nature of an act of state, e.g., to every communication relating to state matters made by one minister to another, or to the Crown. [Footnote 2/8] "
This was the actual birth of executive privilege in England.
Such was the state of English law when, the next year, this Court decided Spalding v. Vilas, supra. In granting the Postmaster General absolute immunity for "matters committed by law to his control or supervision," this Court relied exclusively on the judicial privilege cases and the English military cases. Thus, leaving aside the military cases, which are unique, the executive privilege in defamation actions would appear to be a judicial creature of less than 65 years' existence. Yet, without statute, this relatively new privilege is being extended to open the possibility of absolute privilege for innumerable government officials.
It may be assumed, arguendo, that a government employee should have absolute immunity when, according to his duty, he makes internal reports to his superior or to another upon his superior's order. Cf. Taylor v. Glotfelty, 201 F.2d 51; Farr v. Valeltine, 38 App.D.C. 413; DeArnaud v. Ainsworth, 24 App.D.C. 167. This might be a practical necessity of government that would find its justification in the need for a free flow of information within every executive department. It may not be unreasonable to assume that, if a maliciously false libel is uttered in an internal report, it will be recognized as such and discredited without further dissemination.
confidence of the President who appointed them and to whom they are personally and directly responsible, suggest that the absolute protection partakes of presidential immunity. Perhaps the Spalding v. Vilas rationale would require the extension of such absolute immunity to other government officials who are appointed by the President and are directly responsible to him in policy matters even though they do not hold Cabinet positions. [Footnote 2/9] But this extension is not now before us, since it is clear that petitioner Barr was not appointed by the President, nor was he directly responsible to the President. Barr was exercising powers originally delegated by the President to the Director of Economic Stabilization, who redelegated them to the Director of Rent Stabilization. [Footnote 2/10] And it is not contended that petitioner was under any order to issue a statement in this matter.
for, and reaches, a larger audience than an internally communicated report. Even if the release can later be shown libelous, it is most unusual for a libeled person to obtain the same hearing that was available for the original press release. Second, a release is communicated to a public in no position to evaluate its accuracy; where the report is made internally, the superior is usually in a position to do so. If the report is false, the superior can undo much of the harm of the report by countermanding it or halting its spread.
Giving officials below cabinet or equivalent rank qualified privilege for statements to the public would in no way hamper the internal operation of the executive department of government, nor would it unduly subordinate the interest of the individual in obtaining redress for the public defamation uttered against him. Cf. Colpoys v. Gates, 73 App.D.C.193, 118 F.2d 16.
foster public discussion concerning our Government and its operation.
It is clear that public discussion of the action of the Government and its officials is accorded no more than qualified privilege. In most States, even that privilege is further restricted to situations in which the speaker is accurate as to his facts, and where the claimed defamation results from conclusions or opinions based on those facts. Only in a minority of States is a public critic of Government even qualifiedly privileged where his facts are wrong. [Footnote 2/11] Thus, at best, a public critic of the Government has a qualified privilege. Yet here, the Court has given some amorphous group of officials -- who have the most direct and personal contact with the public -- an absolute privilege when their agency or their action is criticized. In this situation, it will take a brave person to criticize government officials knowing that, in reply, they may libel him with immunity in the name of defending the agency and their own position. This extension of Spalding v. Vilas can only have the added effect of deterring the desirable public discussion of all aspects of our Government and the conduct of its officials. It will sanctify the powerful and silence debate. This is a much more serious danger than the possibility that a government official might occasionally be called upon to defend his actions and to respond in damages for a malicious defamation.
The principal opinion, while attempting to balance what it thinks are the factors to be weighed, has not effectuated the goal for which it originally strove.
Rather, its result has been an uncertain standard whose effect can unfold only on a case-to-case basis, and which does not provide a guide for executive conduct. But, more important, the opinion has set out the wrong interests, and, by its extension of absolute privilege in this case, has seriously weakened another great public interest -- honest and open discussion and criticism of our Government.
See, e.g., Restatement, Torts, § 613, and Prosser, Torts (2d ed.1955), 629 and cases cited.
See Veeder, Absolute Immunity in Defamation: Legislative and Executive Proceedings, 10 Col.L.Rev. 131, 132. See also Tenney v. Brandhove, 341 U. S. 367, 341 U. S. 372.
U.S.Const., Art. I, § 6.
See Tenney v. Brandhove, 341 U. S. 367, 341 U. S. 375, n. 5.
However, this immunity has not been extended to inferior deliberative bodies. As to city councils, see, e.g., Mills v. Denny, 245 Iowa 584, 63 N.W.2d 222; Greenwood v. Cobbey, 26 Neb. 449, 42 N.W. 413; Ivie v. Minton, 75 Ore. 483, 147 P. 395; but cf. Tanner v. Gault, 20 Ohio App. 243, 153 N.E. 124. See also Weber v. Lane, 99 Mo.App. 69, 71 S.W. 1099 (board of aldermen); Bradford v. Clark, 90 Me. 298, 38 A. 229 (town meeting); Smith v. Higgins, 16 Gray (Mass.) 251 (town meeting).
Floyd v. Barker, 12 Co.Rep. 23. See also The King v. Skinner, Lofft 55. An excellent history of the development of this privilege may be found in Veeder, Absolute Immunity in Defamation: Judicial Proceedings, 9 Col.L.Rev. 463. For the development of this privilege in the United States, See Bradley v. Fisher, 13 Wall. 335.
"Commanders, in a day of battle, must act upon delicate suspicions; upon the evidence of their own eye; they must give desperate commands; they must require instantaneous obedience. In case of a general misbehaviour, they may be forced to suspend several officers, and put others in their places."
"A military tribunal is capable of feeling all these circumstances, and understanding that the first, second, and third part of a soldier is obedience. But what condition will a commander be in if, upon the exercising of his authority, he is liable to be tried by a common law judicature?"
"The person unjustly accused is not without his remedy. He has the properest among military men. Reparation is done to him by an acquittal. And he who accused him unjustly is blasted forever, and dismissed the service."
1 T.R. at 549-550. The House of Lords affirmed. 1 Bro.P.C. 76.
In Home v. Bentinck, 2 B. & B. 130 (1820), the court upheld a privilege asserted by the defendant against producing in court the document alleged to contain the libel. This effectively foreclosed the action. See also Dickson v. The Earl of Wilton, 1 F. & F. 419 (1859); Keighly v. Bell, 4 F. & F. 763 (1866); Dawkins v. Lord F. Paulet, L.R. 5 Q.B. 94 (1869); Grant v. Secretary of State for India, L.R. 2 C.P.D. 445 (1877). Though this last case was a suit against a civil officer, it arose out of a military situation.
In 1895, the Secretary of State for India was an important figure in the Government, and was a member of the Cabinet. The Statesman's Year-Book (1895) 10.
Throughout these years, suits were brought against members of the executive branches of the British Government, but were dismissed on the theory that the officer had acted solely as an agent for the Government, and therefore was not personally liable. E.g., Macbeath v. Haldimand, 1 T.R. 172 (1786); Gidley v. Lord Palmerston, 3 B. & B. 275 (1822).
This might well, for example, include Barr's superior in 1953 -- the Director of Economic Stabilization.
Barr's position a Deputy Director was such, on the date of the libel, that he recognized that he was not then entitled to suspend or fire the respondents, and could not do so until several days later. (The Government asserted on oral argument that the full powers of the Director would devolve upon anyone who -- by virtue of his superiors' leaving town -- was, in fact, the highest ranking member of the agency at the moment. It was in this light that Barr was "Acting" Director on the date of the libel.) Even after Barr officially became Acting Director on February 9, 1953, the Government admitted that the Director of Economic Stabilization "could have" directed Barr either to make or not to make press releases. When Barr took action against respondents, they appealed the decision to the Director of Economic Stabilization, and ultimately were reinstated.
An extensive compilation of which States adhere to each view may be found in Noel, Defamation of Public Officers and Candidates, 49 Col.L.Rev. 875, 896-897, n. 102-106.
and even if Spalding v. Vilas, 161 U. S. 483, allows a Cabinet officer the defense of an absolute privilege in defamation suits, [Footnote 3/3] I see no warrant for extending its doctrine to the extent done -- apparently to include every official having some color of discretion to utter communications to Congress or the public. As Judge Magruder pointed out below, 250 F.2d 912, 915, present applications of the doctrine of absolute privilege of public officials are narrowly confined, [Footnote 3/4] and I think, in the light of the considerations involved, very rightly so. But MR. JUSTICE HARLAN's approach seems to clothe with immunity the most obscure subforeman on an arsenal production line who has been delegated authority to hire and fire and who maliciously defames one he discharges.
"it is impossible to know whether the claim is well founded until the case has been tried, and that, to submit all officials, the innocent as well as the guilty, to the burden of a trial and to the inevitable danger of its outcome, would dampen the ardor of all but the most resolute, or the most irresponsible, in the unflinching discharge of their duties."
"Where the charge is one of honest mistake, we exempt the officer because we deem that an actual holding of liability would have worse consequences than the possibility of an actual mistake (which, under the circumstances, we are willing to condone). But it is stretching the argument pretty far to say that the mere inquiry into malice would have worse consequences than the possibility of actual malice (which we would not, for a minutes, condone). Since the danger that official power will be abused is greatest where motives are improper, the balance here may well swing the other way."
fearless, vigorous, and effective administration of policies of government."
foreclosed by our previous cases, and one combining the maximum exposure of the citizen's reputation with the most attenuated of interests in the operation of the Government.
Prosser, Torts (2d ed.1955), § 95.
Actual "malice" is required to vitiate a qualified privilege, not simply the "constructive" malice that is inferred from the publication. See Harper and James, Torts (1956), § 5.27. Definitions of actual "malice" are essayed in Prosser, Torts (2d ed.1955), pp. 625-629; Harper and James, Torts (1956), § 5.27. See Restatement, Torts, §§ 599-605.
The suit in Spalding seems to have been as much, if not more, a suit for malicious interference with advantageous relationships as a libel suit. The Court reviewed the facts and found no false statement. See 161 U.S. at 161 U. S. 487-493. The case may stand for no more than the proposition that, where a Cabinet officer publishes a statement, not factually inaccurate, relating to a matter within his Department's competence, he cannot be charged with improper motives in publication. The Court's opinion leaned heavily on the fact that the contents of the statement (which were not on their face defamatory) were quite accurate, in support of its conclusion that publishing the statement was within the officer's discretion, foreclosing inquiry into his motives. Id. at 161 U. S. 489-493. Different considerations suggest themselves where a statement is defamatory and untrue; it is one thing to say that public officers must answer as to their motives for any official action adversely affecting private interests, and another that they must as to the publication of defamatory, untrue matter.
The opinion's rationale covers the entire federal bureaucracy, as compared to the numerically much less extensive legislative and judicial privileges. And as to the former, the Constitution speaks, and the resolution of the factors involved in the latter is very obviously within the courts' special competence.
See the opinion of the court below in No. 350, 103 U.S. App.D.C. 176, 177, 256 F.2d 890, 891.
They presently are excluded. 28 U.S.C. § 2680(h).
There is controversy as to whether it was mandatory upon petitioner in No. 57 to make his report to the Congressmen. It is not contended that it was mandatory for him to use the words he did, and only if this were so, under my approach, could there possibly be an absolute defense. See Farmers Educational & Cooperative Union v. WDAY, Inc., ante pp. 360 U. S. 525, 360 U. S. 531.
My brother HARLAN's opinion contains, it seems to me, a lucid and persuasive analysis of the principles that should guide decision in this troublesome area of law. Where I part company is in the application of these principles to the facts of the present case.
I cannot agree that the issuance by the petitioner of this press release was "action in the line of duty." The statement to the press (set out in note 5 of MR JUSTICE HARLAN's opinion) did not serve to further any agency function. Instead, it represented a personally motivated effort on the petitioner's part to disassociate himself from the alleged chicanery with which the agency had been charged.
By publicizing the action which he intended to take when he became permanent Acting Director, and his past attitude as a lesser functionary, the petitioner was seeking only to defend his own individual reputation. This was not within, but beyond "the outer perimeter of petitioner's line of duty."

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