Everything online journalists need to protect their legal rights. This free resource culls from all Reporters Committee resources and includes exclusive content on digital media law issues.
More than a dozen news media organizations are opposing a proposed gag order in the George Zimmerman prosecution that would silence all attorneys involved.
A federal judge in Florida last week refused to issue a gag order against attorneys at the Southern Poverty Law Center and the plaintiffs they represent in a case involving alleged civil rights abuses, finding that the publicity generated from plaintiffs' and counsel's statements to date would not interfere with a fair trial.
Citing a desire to avoid "an impending media circus," a Florida county sheriff agreed on Thursday to stop his four-year custom of greeting potential jurors in a parking lot prior to their arrival at court for jury duty.
A federal judge in San Francisco ruled Monday that completed juror questionnaires in the upcoming criminal trial of former professional baseball player Barry Bonds will be available to the public, but the names of the jurors will remain sealed until after the trial.
A California appellate court denied Thursday a request to overturn a Sacramento trial court order requiring a juror to consent to Facebook's release of the online postings made by the juror while he served as the jury foreperson in a criminal trial. The juror's attorney vowed Friday to continue to challenge the order in court.
A federal appellate court has ruled that the judge presiding over the corruption trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich must hold a hearing to determine whether juror names should be kept secret.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago (7th Cir.) said on July 2 that U.S. District Judge James Zagel “acted without evidence” when he originally ruled that the jurors in the high-profile trial should remain anonymous until after the trial was completed.
Former Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling received a fair trial in Houston, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today in Skilling v. United States.
Heavy pretrial publicity does not create a presumption of juror bias that should lead to a change in venue, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in the court's main opinion, and the trial court in this case was not required to move Skilling's trial from Houston.
An Illinois federal judge has given three news organizations immediate access to a previously sealed document in the case against former Governor Rod Blagojevich, the Associated Press reports.
The Supreme Court seemed sympathetic on Monday to the argument that former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling did not receive a fair trial in Houston following the energy company's bankruptcy and subsequent collapse.
