With the First Amendment in place, how are libel and slander laws able to be enforced?
To add to (or rather refine) what has been said already… the 1st Amendment is a restriction on the legislative power of Congress ONLY. Hence the opening words, “CONGRESS shall make no law …” The rights defined in the Bill of Rights are NOT a testimony to the birthright of every human being, or even every American, but are actually “negative rights”, which is to say a list of wrongs for the Federal government. The restrictions the Bill of Rights imposes upon the Federal government do not apply to any private person or other entity or institution outside the Federal government (and, after the 14th Amendment, the State governments). That’s why your boss can fire you for calling him a fathead, high schools can censor student news papers, and colleges can implement outrageously totalitarian speach codes. Slander and Libel are crimes long recognized by Common Law which is antecedant and foundational to the Constitution. No legislation or regulation is necessary to make slander and libel
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