The Appeal v. Oliver
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
Date Filed: Sept. 12, 2025
Background: In March 2024, nonprofit news organization The Appeal sued to challenge Georgia’s restrictions on press access to key parts of execution proceedings, arguing that the restrictions violate the Georgia Constitution.
After a lower court upheld the restrictions and held that there is not a constitutional right of access to executions, The Appeal appealed.
Our Position: In a friend-of-the-court brief joined by The Associated Press, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Television, LLC (WSB-TV), and the Georgia Association of Broadcasters, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is urging the Georgia Court of Appeals to recognize a constitutional right of access to execution proceedings in Georgia.
- The First Amendment and Georgia Constitution afford the press and public a right to access government proceedings.
- Executions in the United States generally, and Georgia specifically, have historically been open to the public.
- Press access to executions plays a significant positive role in informing the public about execution proceedings and the operations of the criminal justice system.
- Georgia’s restrictions on press access to executions should be subjected to strict scrutiny, but at a minimum, must be reasonably related to a legitimate penological interest.
From the Brief: “The Georgia Department of Corrections’ … restrictions limiting audio access to execution proceedings and restricting media access during the preparation of the condemned for execution impermissibly restrict the press’s — and thereby the public’s — ability to access timely and reliable information about those proceedings. Such access is essential to the public’s understanding of how its government is operating its criminal justice system.”
Related: The Reporters Committee is helping journalists fight government efforts to conceal execution proceedings and records from the public in several other cases. In May 2025, for example, Reporters Committee attorneys filed a lawsuit on behalf of a media coalition in Indiana challenging the state’s ban on media witnesses at executions. Read more about the Reporters Committee’s work to help journalists provide crucial accountability coverage of policing and corrections.