Dan Paul (1924-2010) was a prominent Miami-based attorney best known in First Amendment circles for successfully arguing an important press freedom and compelled speech case before the United States Supreme Court.
Born in 1924 in Jacksonville, Florida, Paul earned his undergraduate, masters, and law degrees from Harvard University. Years later, Harvard established the Daniel Paul Professorship at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Upon graduation, he returned to Florida and became active in both Florida politics and the law. In his storied legal career, he represented The Miami Herald, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and NBC News. He also served as lead attorney for the Miami Dolphins professional football team.
Paul argued important First Amendment case before Supreme Court
Paul argued Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo (1974) before the U.S. Supreme Court.
In that decision, the Court unanimously invalidated a Florida right-of-reply statute that forced newspapers to give political candidates an opportunity to respond in print to published criticisms.
The Supreme Court unanimously resisted the idea of government-forced access to the press.
David L. Hudson, Jr. is a law professor at Belmont who publishes widely on First Amendment topics. He is the author of a 12-lecture audio course on the First Amendment entitled Freedom of Speech: Understanding the First Amendment (Now You Know Media, 2018). He also is the author of many First Amendment books, including The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech (Thomson Reuters, 2012) and Freedom of Speech: Documents Decoded (ABC-CLIO, 2017). This article was originally published in 2009.