For the press to function – and to serve its absolutely crucial role of reinforcing democracy by nurturing an educated public and helping the nation’s citizens make informed decisions when they vote or make their views known to those serving in government positions – it cannot be hamstrung by the fear of a lawsuit any time good-faith reporting turns out to have been inaccurate. Nor can the relaxed standard of mere negligence suffice to encourage the robust reporting and wide-open public debate democracy demands when the targets of critique are public figures like the sheriff in Sullivan or even public companies like Dominion.

But that does not mean the media must be given free rein to spew whatever falsehoods those who profit from it believe will drive up their numbers. Such falsehoods do as much to discredit the media and undercut its vital democratic function as would too relaxed a standard of liability. Sullivan’s standard – requiring proof of deliberate or reckless factual falsehood – achieves those goals admirably: good-faith reporters are protected, while those who knowingly air baseless and dangerous conspiracy theories are liable when those lies cause real-world harm. And where that harm is substantial, it is only reasonable that monetary damages must be paid to compensate for the resulting injury. In this case, those damages are potentially astronomical, perhaps starting at Dominion’s claimed $1.6 billion in compensatory damages, which can be multiplied several times over in punitive damages.

A jury will now have to decide these issues – whether Fox News acted with the requisite knowledge of falsity or disregard for truth and how much harm it potentially inflicted. A jury finding that Fox News is on the hook for 10-figure sum in this case would be both a fair outcome and a victory for democracy – and for the continued vitality of the appropriately balanced approach to the First Amendment set forth in Sullivan.