Fox’s last-minute settlement with Dominion

 Fox News settles Dominion defamation lawsuit to avoid trial; India’s top court weighs same-sex marriage.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

Fox settles Dominion lawsuit for $787 million

 Alex Wong/Getty Images

• Tuesday, Dominion Voting Systems reached a last-minute settlement in its $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News for promoting the false claim that its equipment cost Donald Trump the 2020 election. [Vox / Nicole Narea]
• The full settlement terms aren’t yet known, but Dominion had set out to prove that Fox acted with “actual malice” by knowingly airing lies about its products without regard for the truth. [New York Times]
• Fox will pay Dominion a reported $787 million, ending a trial in the case that had just begun Tuesday. [NBC / Jane C. Timm]
• Private communications released in the case revealed that Fox hosts and executives had doubts about the election falsehoods but shared them anyway for ratings. [CNN / Oliver Darcy and Marshall Cohen]
• Fox claimed its coverage was protected under the First Amendment, and that the damages Dominion asked for inflated the value of its business. [Associated Press / David Bauder, Randall Chase, and Geoff Mulvihill]
• The trial had been expected to last six weeks and feature testimony from Fox News host Tucker Carlson and company chair Rupert Murdoch. [CNBC / Kevin Breuninger and Lillian Rizzo]

📍 If you read just one story

The Supreme Court appears likely to issue a cautious decision in a case that would expand religious protections for workers — and burden employers. [Vox / Ian Millhiser]

India could legalize same-sex marriage

• India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday heard final arguments in a case filed by more than a dozen couples seeking to legalize same-sex marriage. [New York Times / Karan Deep Singh]
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government asked the court to block the petition over claims the unions threaten religious and societal norms. [BBC / Geeta Pandey]
• In 2018, the five-member court struck down a colonial-era law criminalizing homosexuality, but India still has a long way to go in tackling anti-gay discrimination. [Guardian / Hannah Ellis-Petersen]
• If the plaintiffs prevail, India will become the second place in Asia, after Taiwan in 2019, to legalize gay marriage. [NPR / Rachel Treisman]

Support our journalism

Having your timely, accessible, and well-cited articles for teaching students research skills on issues facing their communities has been a godsend.

— Chris

On Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis introduced a bill that would impose new restrictions on Disney, as the theme park announced its first-ever Pride Night. [Vox / Nicole Narea]

• A man is facing second-degree murder charges for fatally shooting a 20-year-old woman in upstate New York after the car she was riding in arrived at the wrong address. [NPR / Emily Olson]
• Russia on Tuesday upheld the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on espionage charges. He will remain in prison until at least May 29. [BBC / Steve Rosenberg and Chloe Kim]
• Senate Republicans won’t support temporarily replacing Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), leaving Democrats unable to confirm judicial appointments. [NBC News / Sahil Kapur and Frank Thorp V]

“It’s hard to get evidence to prove that someone in the media knew something was false. What’s so unusual in this case is that there’s all this evidence.”

[Noah Feldman, a Harvard legal historian, on Dominion’s defamation lawsuit / Politico]

Hollywood writers are ready to strike

TV and film writers just voted to authorize a strike, which could leave studios without fresh scripts as soon as May 1. Bloomberg business reporter Lucas Shaw explains.

Read more from Vox

The pregnancy risks of Ozempic and Wegovy need more attention

They shouldn’t have died like this. We shouldn’t have to live like this.

What we know about Elon Musk’s plan to turn Twitter into a super app

You — yes, you — are going to pay for the century-old mistake that’s draining the Colorado River

The Supreme Court is unlikely to put the Christian Right in charge of your workplace — at least not yet

This email was sent to you. Manage your email preferences or unsubscribe. If you value Vox’s unique explanatory journalism, support our work with a one-time or recurring contribution.

View our Privacy Notice and our Terms of Service.

Vox Media, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Floor 12, Washington, DC 20036.
Copyright © 2023. All rights reserved.