In one of the most interesting First Amendment cases the Texas Supreme Court has handled in years, the high court unanimously ruled that political satire is a protected form of free speech, even if it's not clearly labeled or attributes false quotes to real public officials.
The Sept. 3 decision in New Times Inc. d/b/a Dallas Observer, et al. v. Bruce Isaacks and Darlene Whitten puts an end to a libel suit filed five years ago by two Denton County elected officials against the Dallas Observer, a weekly alternative newspaper. New Times owns the Dallas Observer.
Isaacks and Whitten were enraged after the newspaper printed a satirical article in 1999 titled "Stop the Madness" about the arrest of a 6-year-old girl for a book report she wrote. That article featured Isaacks, Denton County's district attorney, and Whitten, Denton County Court-at-Law No. 1 judge, and attributed false quotes to both, according to lawyers for the newspaper.
The Dallas Observer maintains the article was intended to skewer Isaacks and Whitten over an actual October 1999 incident in which Whitten ordered the detention of a 13-year-old who allegedly wrote a violent-toned essay.
Details here from Texas Lawyer via Law.com. Or check out the court's opinion.