The New York Times

Pandemic means " A disease prevalent throughout an entire country, continent or whole world." It also means "A disease that is easily transmissible by humans or animals."

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Current situation - World Health Organization raises Pandemic Level to Level 6. From WHO news conference 11 June 2009: "On the basis of available evidence and these expert assessments of the evidence, the scientific criteria for an influenza pandemic have been met. I have therefore decided to raise the level of influenza pandemic alert from Phase 5 to Phase 6.

The world is now at the start of the 2009 influenza pandemic." The transcripts of the Press Conference can be read or videos watched at the WHO site: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/influenzaAH1N1_presstranscript_20090611.pdf It is important to note that this does not indicate an increase in the severity, just that the criteria for Phase 6 regarding the spread of the Novel H1N1 Influenza have been met. This puts in to place additional steps by WHO and Nations' plans for control and prevention in such a widespread situation of pandemic.

Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 US 46 (1988)

Not at all. Hustler Magazine v. Falwell involved a misapplication of defamation criteria set in New York Times v. Sullivan, 376 US 254 (1964). The lower courts incorrectly allowed a civil jury to award Jerry Falwell a total of $200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress, under the "actual malice" test the 1964 case required to establish libel against a public figure. "Actual malice" means a published statement must be made with actual knowledge that a statement is false, or with a reckless disregard for the truth. "Actual malice" is not synonymous with "malicious intent," meaning a desire to cause harm.

Falwell's "distress" arose from a parody of a Compari liquor ad the magazine ran (see Related Links to view the ad) in November 1983 and March 1984, implying Falwell lost his virginity to his mother during a drunken encounter in the family outhouse, and that Falwell was a hypocrite who only preached when drunk.

Parody is a legally accepted means of public criticism protected under the First Amendment, even if the satire is mean-spirited or offensive, and crosses into the realm of "malicious intent." Falwell argued the ad was so outrageous it shouldn't qualify for First Amendment protection, but the argument actually bolstered Flynt's case: The ad was so preposterous, no reasonable person would believe it. The Court held that "outrageousness" was too subjective to use as a basis of legal theory that could open the door to thousands of law suits, and chill the free expression of opinion protected by the First Amendment.

Falwell's other problem lay in the fact that the jury in Hustler's civil trial had found Larry Flynt and the magazine not guilty of libel, because parody qualifies as fair comment, and because the ad was never implied to be true. Without a finding of libel, the question of "actual malice" becomes moot.

The Supreme Court held that Flynt could not collect damages based on "emotional distress" in the absence of a tort (civil wrong). In criminal law, this would be analogous to sentencing a defendant after the jury found him or her not guilty.

For more information, see Related Questions and Related Links, below.

Eight U. S. Vice Presidents were born in New York state:

1. #4 George Clinton (1805-1812)
2. #6 Daniel D. Tompkins (1817-1825)
3. #8 Martin Van Buren (1833-1837)
4. #12 Millard Fillmore (1849-1850)
5. #17 Schuyler Colfax (1869-1873)
6. #19 William A. Wheeler (1877-1881)
7. #25 Theodore Roosevelt (1901)
8. #27 James S. Sherman (1909-1912)

New York Times v. United States, 403 US 713 (1971)

The New York Times and The Washington Post had acquired copies of a classified Department of Defense document, "History of U.S. Decision-Making Process on the Vietnam Policy" (aka the Pentagon Papers) from an unknown source. After the Times published the first in a series of articles related to the sensitive information, President Nixon claimed executive authority to exercise "prior restraint," a legal prohibition against certain First Amendment rights, to force the newspapers to suspend publication of the report.

Attorney General John Mitchell and Assistant District Attorney William Rehnquist sought a court-ordered injunction against the newspapers under Section 793 of the Espionage Act, claiming publication would cause "irreparable injury to the defense interests of the United States." The District and Circuit courts rejected the request.

Both the Times and the United States government appealed to the Supreme Court.

In a 6-3 Per Curiam decision, the Court affirmed the lower court rulings and upheld the right of the newspapers, concluding the government had not met the burden of proof that publication of the Pentagon Papers would create a "grave and irreparable injury" to the United States.

The Court further held that the government hadn't met any of the three exceptions established in Near v. Minnesota, 283 US 697 (1931) allowing them to curb the publishers' First Amendment rights.

1. When a nation is at war, the government can prevent publication of literature that might affect recruitment, per Schenck v. United States, 249 US 47 (1919).
   
   
2. Protection can be suspended to protect the public against incitement to commit acts of violence or overthrow the government.
   
   
3. The primary requirements of decency may be enforced against obscene publications.