On 2005-05-01, Herb Schaltegger
wrote:

The most important rules lay-persons need to remember about American
defamation law are these: you can't defame the dead and truth is an
absolute defense to libel.

Of course, whilst it's easy to check they're dead, it can sometimes be
difficult to ensure the latter part... and adding that one embellishing
detail on the grounds it seems as true as the rest, well, that has the
potential to bring the whole lot crashing down on your head.

So the existence of an absolute defence can be a bit of a double-edged
sword.

--
-Andrew Gray