Prior Restraints

Ordering lawyers to comply with rules of professional conduct was a less restrictive alternative to issuing a gag order during a high-profile politically charged Alabama gambling-corruption retrial, the presiding judge said in an opinion explaining the rationale for his decision yesterday.

A judicial order that a news organization redact material presented during open court is an unconstitutional prior restraint on publication, Massachusetts’ highest court ruled today.

The state’s Supreme Judicial Court also directed its Judiciary-Media Committee to develop guidelines for the live online streaming pilot project of the National Public Radio station in Boston at the heart of the legal dispute.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in a case that questions the constitutionality of a statute which criminalizes false statements about the receipt of military medals.

A federal appeals court recently upheld the constitutionality of a controversial law that criminalizes lying about the receipt of military honors, just weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court will consider a case that struck down the statute.

A Texas district judge unhappy about media coverage has loosened -- but not completely eliminated -- a court order that severely limited news gathering in a murder trial in Fort Worth after a newspaper requested her to reconsider.

A fringe church that spreads its message against homosexuality through protests outside military funerals recently secured another legal victory for its controversial picketing activities.

A convicted terrorist claiming that the limits on communication he faces while serving a life sentence at a federal penitentiary violate his First Amendment rights can proceed with his lawsuit against the government, the District Court in Colorado has ruled.

A California judge denied earlier this week a hospital district's application for a temporary restraining order in connection with a lawsuit it filed against a San Diego newspaper over the healthcare provider's botched response to a public records request.