| Last week’s curation at RealClear’s American Civics portal leads off with Carson Holloway’s critique of New York Times v. Sullivan, the landmark Supreme Court decision on free speech, at Law & Liberty. Holloway argues that because the opinion is bad constitutional law and bad public policy, the Court should revisit it in a future case and overturn the decision. On the policy front, he says it “gives the press near-immunity from libel suits brought by public figures and therefore near-impunity to traffic in false and defamatory claims about them.” On a deeper level, Holloway contends that the decision “undermines…the protection of the natural rights of the individual” by neglecting to protect the right of keeping the status of one’s reputation, which the American founders thought was “a fundamental right.” Holloway makes the case that any victim of “defamation should have as much right to sue for recovery of damages as the victim of fraud or breach of contract.” And he says that any novelties in constitutional law “must be judged against the teaching on rights that informed our nation’s Founding.” Quite simply: “Our traditions should protect and transmit, not undermine, the fundamental character of our rights-respecting regime.” At Public Discourse, Paul Krause argues that a new book, “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: Britain and the American Dream,” by historian Peter Moore uncovers “the roots of America’s political credo” by “taking a close look at pre-Declaration history.” Krause describes “the revolutionary generation" that "unleashed a spirit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” But this revolution did not start with the founding era. Instead, it was “a force that had been building” for centuries by-way-of thinkers and writers like John Locke and Samuel Johnson. In America, Krause writes that it was “a handful of enterprising individuals, like Franklin, who, through sheer force of will and foresight...advanced the cause that spread to many.” As Moore argues, “it was a bottom-up movement, not a top-down political imposition.” In the News Jeremy Dys & Yaakov Menken, Newsweek Julie Carr Smyth & Christine Fernando, ABC News Robert Lowry Clinton, Public Discourse Beth Ann Rosica, Broad + Liberty Paul Krause, Public Discourse Adam J. White, The Atlantic Paul G. Summers, Tennesseean Karlyn Bowman, Forbes Guy Sorman, City Journal Joshua Q. Nelson, Fox News Laurence Tribe & Dennis Aftergut, USA Today Betsy McCaughey, RealClearPolitics Richard W. Garnett, Law & Liberty Peter Berkowitz, RealClearPolitics Stewart McLaurin, USA Today Hillsdale College The United States Constitution was designed to secure the natural rights proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence... A Braver Way Monica talks to historian Ron C. White to find out how our nation's most renowned bridge builder... Politics and Parenting Why Congress matters, and how the legislature can get back to doing its job. National Association of Scholars States, school districts, and teachers all want to know how to teach African American history as part... Carl Cannon's Great American Stories Good morning. It's Friday, the day of the week when I share a quote meant to be informative or enlightening. ... Friday is the day of the week when I share a quote meant to be informative or enlightening. Today's pithy ... On this date in 1861, human communications took a leap forward in this country -- and nothing would ever quite ... | 