I don't know who needs to hear this, but the First Amendment does NOT protect defamation.
In fact, the First Amendment does not protect ANY speech among private parties. Ever. At all.
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@tristansnell That's not quite right. The right to protest includes the right to protest private parties. The 1A corollary, freedom of association, is explicitly about protecting speech among private parties. 1A also protects us from private lawsuits for speech that is opinion or a true statement of fact.
The first amendment protects *all* speech in America, except for a few well-defined categorical exceptions, including defamation. It just only protects us from government-imposed consequences.
