Gertz Vs Welch Case Study

Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323 (1974)
Justice Lewis F. Powell for the majority (5-4) FACTS: In 1968, Chicago police officer Robert Nuccio was convicted of murder in the death of Ronald Nelson. The Nelson family retained Elmer Gertz to represent them in a civil action against Nuccio. In a magazine owned by Welch, called American Opinion, the John Birch Society published an article alleging Nuccio 's trial was part of a Communist campaign against police. The article further implied Gertz had a criminal record and labeled him a "Leninist" and "Communist-fronter." Gertz filed a libel suit, claiming the statements were false and injured his reputation. A lower court decided the magazine was entitled

Sullivan (1964), but higher than the previous state standard where damages may be claimed if defamatory articles were published, Burger disagrees with the court 's rationale. Instead of creating a new approach, Burger states he would prefer to let the law progress "with respect to private citizens rather than embark on a new doctrinal theory which has no jurisprudential ancestry." Although he does not agree with the majority ruling, Burger does find that Gertz was wrongly held accountable. He cites the importance of Sixth Amendment and that lawyers should be viewed as neither positive nor negative. Further, he argues such views would cause lawyers to become selective with unpopular clients. Berger states: "The important public policy which underlies this tradition—the right to counsel—would be gravely jeopardized if every lawyer who takes an "unpopular" case, civil or criminal, would automatically become fair game for irresponsible reporters and editors who might, for example, describe the lawyer as a "mob mouthpiece" for representing a client with a serious prior criminal record, or as an "ambulance chaser" for representing a claimant in a personal injury