In May 1970 the U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, vindicated the Greenbelt News Review’s reporting of two city council meetings which had led to a $2 million libel suit in 1966, Bresler v Greenbelt News Review.
Later this year the News Review plans to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the May 18, 1970 decision that held we were “performing our wholly legitimate function as a community newspaper” (see archive.org/details/GNR1970052101).
The News Review, generally a four-page newspaper during the 1960s, was tightly focused on actions of the city council and the board of Greenbelt Homes, Inc., the cooperative that then comprised most of the housing in Greenbelt, plus whatever general community news would fit. The paper, also a cooperative, was staffed by volunteers who received minimal dividends to cover out-of-pocket expenses and it struggled, from time to time, to pay the printshop, leading to a series of house-to-house fundraisers.
In 1965, real estate developer Charles Bresler sought city support for his zoning request to the county planning board. He wanted to develop a parcel in the North End of town. The newspaper covered his appearance before council as he made his request, and again two weeks later as council rejected that request. At that time, Bresler was building single family homes in the Lakeside neighborhood and represented investors who owned several large parcels in Greenbelt. The newspaper had recently run several small stories of complaints by purchasers of the Lakeside homes about their difficulties in getting construction problems resolved.
Bresler was also then running for Comptroller of Maryland on the Republican ticket that included Spiro T. Agnew in his bid for election as governor of Maryland.
His $2 million libel suit against the newspaper and its board president, Alfred Skolnik, the board believed, was an effort to shut down the News Review’s voice, which Bresler found embarrassing, especially in light of his run for office. He claimed the newspaper was making him “the most hated man in Greenbelt.”
The newspaper had meager resources to fight a libel suit. It knew the city council stories dealing with Bresler’s request and then council’s denial, were fair and accurate – meaning the paper had done nothing wrong. In view of New York Times v Sullivan, a then recent decision, the paper understood our case would be important and should not be lost but did not have the wherewithal to win it. In January, 1968, Skolnik took our story to the Washington Post. The Post agreed the case was important and asked their law firm, Royall, Koegel, Rogers and Wells, to take the case pro bono. The lawyer assigned was Roger A. Clark. He was told by the firm that he was to work after hours and on weekends.
In January 1968 the case was lost at the county level and again at the Maryland Court of Appeals in 1969. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. Their unanimous decision came down on May 18, 1970, in favor of the News Review and established an important new precedent in first amendment interpretation as it relates to freedom of the press. The language in this decision has been frequently invoked since then.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision, newspapers across the country ran the story with big bold frontpage headlines and identified Roger A. Clark as the attorney. His next job for the Washington Post was the Pentagon Papers in 1971.