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ASSOCIATES, INC.
Opinion of the Court
aimed at something else in the hope that it would sweep fraud in during the process." Munson, 467 U. S., at 969- 970. The Illinois Attorney General's complaint, in this light, has a solid core in allegations that home in on affirmative statements Telemarketers made intentionally misleading donors regarding the use of their contributions. See supra, at 608-609.
Of prime importance, and in contrast to a prior restraint on solicitation, or a regulation that imposes on fundraisers an uphill burden to prove their conduct lawful, in a properly tailored fraud action the State bears the full burden of proof. False statement alone does not subject a fundraiser to fraud liability. As restated in Illinois case law, to prove a defendant liable for fraud, the complainant must show that the defendant made a false representation of a material fact knowing that the representation was false; further, the complainant must demonstrate that the defendant made the representation with the intent to mislead the listener, and succeeded in doing so. See In re Witt, 145 Ill. 2d 380, 391, 583 N. E. 2d 526, 531 (1991). Heightening the complainant's burden, these showings must be made by clear and convincing evidence. See Hofmann v. Hofmann, 94 Ill. 2d 205, 222, 446 N. E. 2d 499, 506 (1983).9
Exacting proof requirements of this order, in other contexts, have been held to provide sufficient breathing room for protected speech. See New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U. S. 254, 279-280 (1964) (action for defamation of public
9 In Riley, this Court expressed concern that case-by-case litigation over the reasonableness of fundraising fees would inhibit speech. 487 U. S., at 793-794. That concern arose in large measure because the North Carolina statute there at issue placed the burden of proof on the fundraiser. The Court has long cautioned that, to avoid chilling protected speech, the government must bear the burden of proving that the speech it seeks to prohibit is unprotected. See Freedman v. Maryland, 380 U. S. 51, 58 (1965); Speiser v. Randall, 357 U. S. 513, 525-526 (1958). The government shoulders that burden in a fraud action.
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