Fourth Circuit denies rehearing in Hatfill v. NY Times defamation case

In Hatfill v. New York Times, the Fourth Circuit denied rehearing en banc by a vote of 6-6, over the dissent of Judge Wilkinson, who thinks that the panel decision fails to pass muster under the First Amendment.

As I wrote in this post about the panel decision, state law pleading standards would be much more demanding, and come closer (perhaps by accident) to providing the First Amendment protection Judge Wilkinson advocates.