In a pre-Halloween hearing in the $1 billion defamation suit against them, on Wednesday, CNN tried to bring their Sharia law defense back from the grave. Judge William Scott Henry of Florida’s 14th Circuit Court called it “a circular argument” that wanted pity for the Afghanis while implying they were criminals for escaping the Taliban. The network’s lawyer ultimately argued that “half-ass” reporting should be constitutionally protected and not subject to a defamation suit.
With Plaintiff and Navy veteran Zachary Young arguing that it was defamatory for CNN’s on-air reporting to suggest he was involved in an “black market” (which he’s also arguing meant illegality), CNN counsel Charles D. Tobin argued that, “CNN does not need to act with legal precision. Journalists don’t need to use words that have meaning in legal terminology” and thus what CNN claimed was…
