William Janklow v. Newsweek, Inc.

ARNOLD, Circuit Judge.

William Janklow, the Governor of South Dakota, filed this defamation action against Newsweek magazine based on an article in the weekly’s February 21, 1983, issue about American Indian activist Dennis Banks. The article, “Dennis Banks’s Last Stand,” purports to give a history of the relationship between Banks, who fled the state in the mid-1970’s after his conviction on two felony counts, and Janklow, who while Attorney General prosecuted Banks and later, as Governor, sought his extradition. Janklow’s claim centers on one paragraph of the article, which referred to…