1. Does the Court say that actual malice must be proved in every defamation case?

2. What was the respondent’s occupation? Was it important?

The U.S. Supreme Court held in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case New York Times v. Sullivan that a state cannot award damages to a public official for defamation relating to official conduct without proof of actual malice—that the statement was made with knowledge of falsity or with reckless disregard of its truth.