<P> "We did that because we didn't want anything that was published by the Times to be a reflection on the State of Alabama and the Governor was, as far as we could see, the embodiment of the State of Alabama and the proper representative of the state and, furthermore, we had by that time learned more of the actual facts which the ad purported to recite and, finally, the ad did refer to the action of the state authorities and the Board of Education presumably of which the Governor is the ex officio chairman ..." </P> <P> However, the Secretary also testified he did not think that "any of the language in there referred to Mr. Sullivan ." </P> <P> Constitutional law scholar Herbert Wechsler successfully argued this case before the United States Supreme Court . Louis M. Loeb, a partner at the firm of Lord Day & Lord who served as chief counsel to the Times from 1948 to 1967, was among the authors of the Times' brief . Loeb later called the libel cases he argued for The New York Times "the heaviest responsibility I've ever had since I began practicing law ." </P> <P> The court's ruling held that news publications could not be sued for libel by public figures unless the plaintiffs were able to establish actual malice in the false reporting of a news story . The Court ruled for The Times, 9--0 . The rule of law applied by the Alabama courts was found constitutionally deficient for failure to provide safeguards for freedom of speech and of the press, as required by the First and Fourteenth Amendment . The decision further held that even with the proper safeguards, the evidence presented in this case was insufficient to support a judgment for Sullivan . In sum the court ruled that "the First Amendment protects the publication of all statements, even false ones, about the conduct of public officials except when statements are made with actual malice (with knowledge that they are false or in reckless disregard of their truth or falsity)." </P>

New york times co v sullivan held that there must be proof of which of the following