Restraining orders

A Maine judge Monday ordered the release of the names of more than 100 men charged with hiring a prostitute but issued a temporary restraining order against the disclosure of some of the men’s addresses, causing confusion and leaving journalists unable to verify the identities of the defendants.

A Massachusetts district judge ordered a blogger to remove from his website all references to a woman who faced criminal charges related to a car accident that seriously injured a pedestrian. A hearing Monday will bring into question the constitutionality of the order, which some argue violates the First Amendment.

A Dallas judge denied Monday a request to place an ex parte temporary restraining order on a local blogger. Judge Mark Greenberg of Dallas County Court at Law #5 ruled that the plaintiff had not met the burden necessary to warrant the restraining order.

Had it been granted, the restraining order would have functioned as a prior restraint preventing blogger Avi Adelman from writing about Dallas bar Lost Society on his blog, BarkingDogs.org.