Court Opinion

ID: 9848517
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:21:20.257211+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:18:22.152430
License: Public Domain

SHEPARD, Justice
(specially concurring).
I concur in the result obtained by the majority on the ground that the material is not libelous per se. Since the majority opinion sets forth the editorial in its entirety, I would only observe that there is little danger that the editorial will go down in the annals of American journalism as a classic in political critique. The terms “Teeny Tyrants” and “Three Stooges” do not really invoke memories of the ringing tocsin of Thomas Paine, the muckraking of a Lincoln Steffens, or the odiousness of a Drew Pearson. I would have expected better of seasoned and veteran journalists.
Notwithstanding my judgments of the literary merits of the article, I concur with the ultimate conclusion of the majority but suggest that the technique utilized by the majority suggests the use of a sledge hammer to kill a mosquito. The majority correctly points out that in the instant case plaintiffs had the burden of establishing that the words complained of were libelous per se. I further agree with the majority that at best the language complained of herein was “unpleasant and annoys or irks plaintiff, and subjects him to jests or banter, so as to affect his feelings.”
Having decided the case on the basis that the material was non-libelous, the majority opinion then gratuitously rolls up the heavy artillery of the decisions of the United States Supreme Court to establish that even if this case did involve “libel” and, if libelous were “false statements of fact” they would nevertheless have been constitutionally protected under the decisions of the United States Supreme Court. I point out that none of such circumstances existed herein.
I see no purpose to be served in playing the guessing game as to whether the cases cited by the majority from the United States Supreme Court would be sustained by the new membership of the High Court in proper cases, or whether the doctrines enunciated might be modified or eroded. Opinions can and do vary on that score. It is sufficient to say that those doctrines are inapplicable to the case at bar.