Appeals Court Reinstates Anthrax Libel Suit

The federal 4th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday reinstated a libel suit against the New York Times, ruling that columns in the newspaper implicating a former Army scientist in the unsolved 2001 anthrax attacks could be considered defamatory, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, May 25).

Last year, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that columns written by Times columnist Nicholas Kristof in which Steven Hatfill was named reflected the state of the investigation at the time.

The appeals court, however, ruled 2-1 that the columns imply Hatfill was behind the attacks and returned the case to the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., for trial.

“A reasonable reader of Kristof's columns likely would conclude that Hatfill was responsible for the anthrax mailings in 2001,” the court said in the majority opinion (Matthew Barakat, Associated Press/Newsday, July 29).

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