Ms. Dhillon and others point to Nicholas Sandmann, who in 2019 found himself at the center of a national controversy after he was filmed facing a Native American elder at the Lincoln Memorial while wearing a MAGA hat. He sued multiple news outlets, including The New York Times, claiming they relied on the statements of the Native American elder without verifying them and subjected him to mass ridicule and derision. Mr. Sandmann reached settlements with CNN, The Washington Post and NBC. The lawsuit against The Times and other outlets was thrown out by a federal judge.
Mr. Sandmann, who has appealed the decision, appeared on Tuesday’s panel, which was staged in a studio outside Miami and streamed online. As Mr. DeSantis sat in front of screens reading “Speak the Truth,” Mr. Sandmann said his experience had “predetermined part of what the rest of my future is,” which is why, he said, “we need to look at defamation.”
The attack on Sullivan by Mr. DeSantis underscores some conservatives’ increasing hostility against the mainstream media. But the crosscurrents of this issue reflect a more complex picture: Some of the outlets most favored by Mr. DeSantis and his allies have faced serious defamation challenges and have turned to the Sullivan case to defend against them.
Also on the panel was Libby Locke, a well-known media defamation lawyer who has pushed for judicial review of Sullivan, as well as state-level legislation that could make it easier for plaintiffs to bring and win libel cases.
Ms. Locke’s presence alongside Mr. DeSantis drew rebukes from many on the right, particularly Trump supporters, who noted that one of her firm’s clients is Dominion Voting Systems, the voting machine company that has been the target of unfounded accusations of election fraud from the former president’s backers.
Ms. Locke’s firm filed a $1.6 billion defamation suit against Fox News on Dominion’s behalf. Fox has invoked Sullivan as part of its defense. Last month, the Fox chairman Rupert Murdoch was deposed in the case, which is set to go to trial in April.
“DeSantis isn’t just trolling Trump. He’s now trolling us,” Ali Alexander, an organizer of the Jan. 6, 2021, rallies in Washington, wrote in a tweet on Tuesday.
