Barbara Kay: Mark Steyn’s Trial Has Important Implications for Freedom of Speech

Commentary Iago, Shakespeare’s villain in “Othello,” set a high price on his reputation: “Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing; ‘Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands; But he that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes me poor indeed.” All Iago could do in the 16th century was gnash his teeth. Today, in order to shut up his critics, he could have recourse to a drawn-out, costly defamation lawsuit, in which the process becomes a punishment they aren’t prepared to endure. The mother of all defamation lawsuits was launched 12 years ago by Penn State University climate scientist Michael Mann against defendants Mark Steyn, alpha journalistic gadfly, and policy analyst Rand Simberg, as well as their publishers, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, an anti-regulation think tank, and National Review Online. Eventually, various court rulings, setbacks for Mann, left only two defendants, Steyn and Simberg. The long-awaited trial is currently in progress in Washington, D.C.’s Superior Court....