A judge has dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant against a newspaper for its coverage of the welfare-fraud scandal linked to Brett Favre.
ESPN reported Friday that Madison County Circuit Court Judge Bradley Mills dismissed Bryant’s lawsuit against Mississippi Today. Bryant had sued the newspaper two years ago following the publication of a five-part series, “The Backchannel,” which uncovered a $77 million welfare fraud scandal.
A 2022 civil suit filed by the Mississippi Department of Human Services accused Favre of improperly receiving funds from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families as part of the state’s largest public embezzlement scandal. Favre has not been charged with a crime and denies knowing the funds were designated for welfare. The report detailed how Bryant funneled over $5 million of those funds to Favre’s alma mater, Southern Miss, for a new volleyball facility.
Reporter Anna Wolfe won a Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of the story.
Mississippi Today attorney Lee Crain said in a statement (via ESPN) that Wolfe’s stories were “exactly the type of reporting the First Amendment was intended to protect.”
Crain also said the ruling “ends once and for all Governor Bryant’s unconstitutional crusade against Mississippi’s free press.”
An attorney for Bryant, Billy Quinn, said the case “will likely end up on appeal before the Mississippi Supreme Court. … This matter is far from over. Governor Bryant remains confident in the legal basis and righteousness of his case.”
It’s the second significant legal loss for Bryant in the past two weeks. On March 25, a defamation case filed by Bryant against Sports Illustrated reporter Michael Rosenberg for his story about the same scandal was dismissed with prejudice by a federal judge.
Favre has also been litigious in the case, filing defamation suits against Pat McAfee and Shannon Sharpe for their comments in 2023. A judge dismissed the case against Sharpe, and Favre dropped the lawsuit against McAfee.
Mississippi Today reported its legal victory in a story Friday headlined “A Win for Press Freedom.”
“For the past 22 months, we’ve vigorously defended our Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting and our characterizations of Bryant’s role in the Mississippi welfare scandal,” the story read. “We are grateful today that the court, after careful deliberation, dismissed the case.
“The reporting speaks for itself. The truth speaks for itself.”
