Maclain Conlin is a student and aspiring appellate attorney living in Vass, NC. He writes about constitutional law for Originalist Angles and is a nationally recognized Moot Court and debate competitor. In addition, he recently founded a new civics organization called the William Gaston Project, which is dedicated to educating high school students about the rich history of NC’s legal system.
How the NC Supreme Court helped develop a key American free-speech standard
The now-famous standard of “actual malice,” derived from the US Supreme Court’s Sullivan decision, has its roots in the decisions of 19th-century state courts like the NC Supreme Court.