Your client, Ann, feels she was defamed when a blogger called her a prostitute because she testified before the Florida Congress about funding Planned Parenthood. Ann lives in Florida, and that is where you are filing the case. You have found four sources on point to your case that have to do with criminal defamation.
A Florida statute: “Whoever speaks of and concerning any woman, married or unmarried, falsely and maliciously imputing to her a want of chastity, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. . . .”
A Georgia case where the plaintiff won a defamation suit when she sued a radio “shock jock” for calling her a “whore” because she got an abortion.
A U.S. Supreme Court case that states that a plaintiff who is trying to prove defamation because of something said about him in the media is a public figure and must prove actual malice.
A treatise on defamation
Identify whether the sources are mandatory, persuasive, primary, or secondary. They can be a mixture, so keep in mind that each source will be either mandatory/primary, persuasive/primary, or secondary/persuasive. What type of authority would you cite in a memorandum to the court, and why? Is there any value in using a secondary source as part of your research plan? Legal Research & Writing Class