Donnelly v. Des Moines Register
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
Date Filed: April 22, 2026
Background: In January 2025, Iowa resident Dennis Donnelly sued The Des Moines Register and pollster J. Ann Selzer over a 2024 presidential poll published days before the election, which showed then-Vice President Kamala Harris with a narrow lead over then-candidate Donald Trump. Donnelly alleged that the poll, which ultimately did not match the results of the election, constituted “fraud.”
The Register and Selzer filed motions to dismiss the complaint, which a federal judge granted, finding that the poll was protected speech, not fraud.
Donnelly appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Our Position: The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed a friend-of-the-court brief joined by 46 news and media organizations urging the Eighth Circuit to affirm the district court’s ruling in favor of the newspaper and pollster.
- Predictive analysis and commentary, including public opinion polls, are constitutionally protected opinions based on disclosed facts and cannot be characterized as “false” speech.
- Even if the poll could be characterized as “false,” it is still entitled to strong First Amendment protection.
From the brief: “Were these organizations to face liability — class action suits, no less — any time they published public opinion polls concerning elections or issue referendums that departed from the eventual real-world outcomes, they would be unable to provide any kind of predictive analysis, and the public would be worse off for it.”