On February 24, 1988, the Supreme Court voted 8-0 to overturn the $200,000 settlement awarded to the Reverend Jerry Falwell for emotional distress at being parodied in Hustler. Falwell, a conservative leader of the Moral Majority sued for libel. Falwell won the case, but Larry Flynt appealed. The Supreme Court unanimously overturned the lower court’s decision, ruling that Hustler‘s parody fell within the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of speech and the press.
