Miami Herald v. Tornillo
United States Supreme Court
418 U.S. 241 (1974)
Pat Tornillo (plaintiff), a candidate for the Florida House of Representatives, was criticized in two Miami Herald (defendant) editorials and demanded the paper publish his responses. When the Herald refused, Tornillo sued under a Florida statute granting political candidates a right to have their replies to newspaper criticism published. The Herald argued the statute violated the First Amendment's freedom of the press. The trial court agreed the statute was unconstitutional, but the Florida Supreme Court reversed, and the Herald appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Whether a state statute granting a political candidate a right to equal space to reply to a newspaper's criticism of his record violates the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of the press.