Opinion ID: 795422
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Protection of Hyperbolic Speech under the First Amendment

Text: 19 We note, as an initial matter, that the fact that Reuland's statement was not literally true does not automatically deprive it of First Amendment protection. 2 False speech, as well as hyperbole, is still entitled to First Amendment protection, as long as it is not made with knowledge or reckless disregard of its falsity. See N.Y. Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 271, 84 S.Ct. 710, 11 L.Ed.2d 686 (1964) (The constitutional protection does not turn upon the truth, popularity, or social utility of the ideas and beliefs which are offered. . . . To persuade others to his own point of view, the pleader, as we know, at times, resorts to exaggeration. (internal quotations and citations omitted)); see also Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46, 56-57, 108 S.Ct. 876, 99 L.Ed.2d 41 (1988) (finding parody that was not reasonably believable was protected by the First Amendment). This has been a longstanding principle of First Amendment law because erroneous statement is inevitable in free debate, and . . . it must be protected if the freedoms of expression are to have the `breathing space' that they `need to survive.' Sullivan, 376 U.S. at 271-72, 84 S.Ct. 710 (citations omitted). 20 The same First Amendment protection for false speech applies even in the context of public employee speech, where the government has somewhat greater latitude. Pickering, 391 U.S. at 574, 88 S.Ct. 1731 ([A]bsent proof of false statements knowingly or recklessly made by him, a [public employee]'s exercise of his right to speak on issues of public importance may not furnish the basis for his dismissal. . . .). In Pickering, one of the foundational Supreme Court cases in this area of law, the Court found that some of the statements at issue were false, but nevertheless accorded those statements constitutional protection, concluding that the employer's interest in preventing the speech did not outweigh the employee's interest in free speech. Id. at 572-73, 88 S.Ct. 1731. 21 Because Reuland's statement was, as all parties concede, hyperbole, to demonstrate that it is not entitled to First Amendment protection Hynes would have to show that the statement (1) would reasonably have been perceived as an assertion of fact, (2) was false, and (3) was made with knowledge or reckless disregard of its falsity. 3 Hustler, 485 U.S. at 56-57, 108 S.Ct. 876. He has not done so. Despite the dissent's assumption to the contrary, there is nothing in the record that would even show Reuland's statement was in fact false, let alone that he made it with knowledge or reckless disregard of its falsity. 4 Indeed, in 2000 and 2001, around the time Reuland made his statement, Brooklyn had more homicides than any other borough of New York City as well as more violent crime per 100,000 people than any other borough. See New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, 2000-2001 Crime and Justice Annual Report, Sec. 1, Part 1, available at http://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/crimnet/ojsa/cja_00_01/contents.htm. Therefore, we cannot conclude that Reuland's statement is deprived of First Amendment protection simply because it may not have been entirely accurate, and thus we continue the analysis under the same rubric as other public employee speech.