Litigation: Not Libel, Theft

The U.S. Supreme Court has made criticism of a public official virtually libel-proof. Only if a newsman maliciously lies in print can a suit be brought successfully. So it was that last month Connecticut Senator Thomas Dodd called off his libel suit against Columnists Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson (TIME, Dec. 22). But Dodd continued to press action against the newsmen for having conspired in the stealing of some of his private documents. It was those documents that Pearson and Anderson had used in the columns that first brought Dodd's financial indiscretions to light. Dodd figured that they had been obtained illegally, and therefore he was entitled to damages for all that had happened subsequently. Last week U.S. District Judge Alexander Holtzoff agreed, ruled that Dodd could ; recover, and ordered a jury to determine how much.

Pearson was not having any of it, however. There was nothing wrong with what he did, he said, if it "improves the ethics of the Senate."