7.7 Opinion

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

7.7 Opinion.

In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court held that there is no independent constitutional privilege for opinion.⁵⁴ Following Milkovich , the Arizona Supreme Court has held that the Arizona Constitution “provides no greater privilege for otherwise defamatory statements than the first amendment of the United States Constitution.”⁵⁵ While there is no absolute privilege for speech characterized as “opinion,” Arizona courts continue to protect speech that does not state provably false facts. For example, the Arizona Supreme Court held in 1993 that the...