Memphis judge blocks juvenile court from unlawfully shutting reporters out of proceedings

A Tennessee judge has blocked the juvenile court in Memphis, Tennessee, from enforcing a policy that unlawfully shuts journalists out of juvenile delinquency proceedings, a decision that could result in more accountability reporting on how the Shelby County justice system handles delinquency cases involving children.     

In a ruling last month, Chancellor James R. Newsom III of the Shelby County Chancery Court sided with arguments made by an attorney from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, who represented a coalition of news outlets in a lawsuit that challenged the Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County’s access restrictions. 

The judge concluded that the court’s policy, which requires members of the press and public to get advance permission from the court before attending juvenile delinquency hearings, is likely unlawful.

The “public’s interests are best served by open proceedings because open proceedings with a vigorous and scrutinizing press instill faith that government officials are forthcoming and honest and thus ensure the durability of our democracy,” Chancellor Newsom wrote in his June 25 opinion. 

Paul McAdoo, the Reporters Committee’s Tennessee-based attorney, filed the lawsuit in November on behalf of a news media coalition that includes MLK50: Justice Through Journalism; the Daily Memphian’s publisher, Memphis Fourth Estate; and The Commercial Appeal’s publisher, Memphis Publishing.  

The lawsuit argues the juvenile court’s advance permission policy violates the rules that govern access to Tennessee’s juvenile courts, which explicitly state that delinquency cases are presumptively open to the public. 

In legal filings, the news outlets claimed the restrictions impeded news coverage of the juvenile justice system and stifled public oversight of the court. The filings described multiple instances in which reporters have been barred from accessing court hearings due to the policy, either because their advance requests were not answered until after a hearing took place or because they were explicitly denied. 

“[O]bserving these proceedings is important for an understanding of how the juvenile court works and does its job,” McAdoo said at a May hearing in the case. “And that’s essential for the oversight mechanism of the public that the press is … integral to, especially in a situation where judges are elected.” 

The judge’s order requires the Shelby County Juvenile Court to comply with the “unambiguous mandate” of the court rule that requires certain juvenile proceedings to be publicly accessible by default. The rules specify a process the court must follow in order to close a delinquency proceeding, which requires the court to, among other things, “make adequate written findings to support any order of closure” on a case-by-case basis.