Maressa v. New Jersey Monthly

Article I, paragraph 6 of the New Jersey Constitution safeguards an individual’s right to a cause of action for defamation.1 It is of course subject to the Federal Constitution, the Supreme law of the land. As such this right has been abridged to some extent by the United States Supreme Court’s interpretation of the First Amendment to the Federal Constitution. Other than that modification the cause of action for defamation cannot be eliminated by the Legislature. Yet the majority’s interpretation *203of the Shield Law, N.J.S.A. 2A:84A-21, has that precise effect in the case of public figures and…