Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Wednesday that he hopes Newsmax prevails in a pending lawsuit versus Dominion Voting Systems because it would be in the best interests of the First Amendment.
On Tuesday, Dominion Voting Systems reached a $787.5 million settlement with Fox News.
Dominion had argued that Fox damaged its reputation with false reports that its machines had been used to rig the presidential election for Joe Biden. Dominion had provided multiple states with voting machines in the 2020 elections.
Dershowitz told "Rob Schmitt Tonight" the settlement is troubling to him because of its effect on the First Amendment — it might leave Fox inclined to self-censor for fear of further lawsuits.
"The First Amendment is in great danger when there are any restrictions, particularly when you're reporting on something accurately that may be false," he said.
"That is, if the president says something, you report on it. If it turns out to be false, as Thomas Jefferson wrote 200 years ago, the marketplace of ideas will cure it. Somebody else will explain why that's wrong. That's the way, under the First Amendment, we get the truth."
Dershowitz noted that he has been a Newsmax legal contributor, included during and after the 2020 elections.
But he said that while on Newsmax he voiced opinions that were different than those of former President Donald Trump who has long claimed the election was marred by massive voter fraud.
Dershowitz said he never believed he was being censored by Newsmax regarding his opinions. In fact, Newsmax encouraged him to voice his opinions, which were often at odds with the views of President Trump and his campaign.
He noted that Fox staffers and personalities apparently worried about the reports on alleged Dominion fraud but didn't raise their concerns more publicly to avoid conflicting with the editorial stance of the news network.
To Dershowitz, that may be a key distinction between Fox and Newsmax.
"I would never remain with a network that censored me," he said.
"I always express my views and was always told, 'Be free to express your views, that's why we want you.' "
He added: "I criticized people on this network who were guests who had said things that I didn't think were supported, so this network provided a wide variety, a diversity of views and let the people choose. That's what the First Amendment and freedom of speech is about."
After Dominion's settlement with Fox was announced, Newsmax released a statement that read: "Newsmax believes that the facts at issue in Dominion's case against it are materially different from those that may have driven Fox to settle, and no conclusion about Newsmax should be drawn from that settlement."
Dershowitz doesn't see Newsmax facing a similar situation as Fox.
"I hope that Newsmax litigates and wins, and I think that would really serve the interests of the First Amendment," he said. "But you know, Dominion is now in the business of making money off lawsuits. They're probably going to make more money off lawsuits than they make off counting votes, and it just does tremendous damage to the First Amendment."
Host Rob Schmitt showed a video clip of one Dominion attorney speaking at their press conference who thanked the media for their help in the case.
"The interesting thing is that the liberal media, if the shoe were on the other foot, would be railing against settlements that affected freedom of speech," Dershowitz said. "But because it's Fox, they couldn't care less."
See: Newsmax Acted Differently Than Fox, Network Says