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Confirmed

Jankowicz's defamation suit against Fox News dismissed, then affirmed on appeal

Nina Jankowicz sued Fox News for defamation over its coverage of her and the Disinformation Governance Board. Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly dismissed the suit on July 22, 2024, and the Third Circuit affirmed on Sept. 12, 2025.

Jul 22, 2024
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Whose side it served: Neither party

A private lawsuit decided by federal judges; not a partisan government action.

What the record shows

Judge Connolly found that 36 of the 37 challenged statements targeted the board rather than Jankowicz personally, that many were non-actionable opinion, and that she had not shown the statements about intended censorship were not substantially true. He wrote that the board's objective of examining and flagging speech was 'fairly characterized as a form of censorship,' and that describing her departure as being fired was accurate. Jankowicz appealed in January 2025. A Third Circuit panel (Judges Restrepo, Bibas and Chung) affirmed on Sept. 12, 2025, holding that criticism of the board was not 'of and concerning' her and that labels like 'censorship' were opinion in a 'hypercharged' political debate.

In their words

“That objective is fairly characterized as a form of censorship”— Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly, July 22, 2024 (as quoted by Reason) · source
“being dismissed from a position is fairly described as being fired”— Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly (as quoted by Reason) · source
The other side

These rulings applied defamation law (opinion, substantial truth, and whether statements were about her); they are not a factual finding that Jankowicz censored anyone. Her lawyers argued on appeal that the district court applied the wrong legal standard.

Sources

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