Media & Communications Law

Editor’s Book Hits Media Lawyer

A book that chronicles the legal fight to protect a Time reporter and his sources criticizes the high-profile lawyer who represented the magazine. The book, Off the Record, is written by former Time editor-in-chief Norman Pearlstine. He takes aim at media lawyer Floyd Abrams, saying he was more interested in…

Jun 18, 2007 1:40 PM CDT

Judge to FBI: Release Spying Records

According to a party, a federal judge in a FOIA case today ordered the FBI to release on an expedited basis records of the agency’s domestic spying on Americans under a controversial National Security Letters program that allows warrantless surveillance. “The reports we’ve seen so far about NSL abuse are…

Jun 16, 2007 1:55 AM CDT

Back in Ball Game: O.J. Book ‘If I Did It’

A highly controversial, near-confessional account by fallen football hero O.J. Simpson of how he might have killed his former wife and a male companion could still be published. The father of Nicole Brown Simpson’s companion, Ron Goldman, can pursue the rights to the book, “If I Did It,” from an…

Jun 15, 2007 8:57 PM CDT

New Argument: Beware of Bloggers

Lawyers for I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby Jr. argued against release of letters in his support on the ground that the authors would be subjected to ridicule on the Internet. Lawyers said there was “the real possibility that these letters, once released, would be published on the Internet and their authors…

Jun 11, 2007 2:17 PM CDT

Judge: Stop Web Attack on Crime Author

In an unusual and perhaps unenforceable order, a federal judge in Virginia has told a self-published author to end a longstanding Internet vendetta against Patricia Cornwell, a best-selling crime novelist. Formerly a resident of Richmond, Cornwell, 50, says she moved from Virginia to Massachusetts in 2001 largely because of her…

Jun 7, 2007 8:16 PM CDT

2nd Circuit: F-Word Not Really Indecent; FCC: Enforcement Threatened

The F-word isn’t indecent enough to trigger Federal Communications Commission penalties when inadvertently used in television and radio broadcasts, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided today. Its ruling focused on a 2003 Golden Globes presentation on NBC television by U-2’s lead singer, who made the comment “f-ing brilliant”…

Jun 5, 2007 2:06 AM CDT

Court Finds Media Right to Juror Names

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that the media has a First Amendment right to juror names. Writing yesterday (PDF) for a unanimous court, Chief Justice Ralph J. Cappy said disclosing jurors’ names furthers the objective of a fair trial and assures society of fairness. Cappy wrote that names could…

Jun 1, 2007 7:48 PM CDT

Outed CIA Agent Claims Prior Restraint

Outed CIA agent Valerie Wilson has sued her former employer for refusing to allow her to publish the dates she worked there. Wilson notes the information has already been published in the Congressional Record and says the CIA’s stance violates her rights to free speech, according to a New York…

Jun 1, 2007 4:19 PM CDT

Panhandler Gets Arrest Tossed

A city court judge in New Rochelle, N.Y., has found the arrest of a panhandler violated his free speech rights. Eric Hoffstead had asked his lawyer to challenge his arrest after reading about a 1992 federal judge’s ruling that struck down a ban on panhandling. The court also tossed a…

May 31, 2007 3:51 PM CDT

Libel Suit OK’d for Financial Reports

A California appeals court is permitting Overstock.com’s libel suit against a financial analysis company to go forward. Overstock.com had claimed Gradient Analytics conspired with a hedge fund to publish negative reports about the online retailer, according to the Recorder. The hedge fund allegedly profited by taking short positions in the…

May 31, 2007 1:07 PM CDT

Panhandler Challenges Begging Ban

A homeless man in New Rochelle, N.Y., claims his arrest for begging violates the First Amendment. A federal judge struck down a begging ban in a 1992 ruling that applied to New York City, but since then more than 2,300 people have been arrested through New York state for the…

May 30, 2007 3:36 PM CDT

Undisclosed Court Papers Trouble Critics

The federal clerk’s office for the Southern District of Florida did not post key documents to its Web site in a case involving Miami attorney Louis Robles. First Amendment advocates are troubled by the omission, which apparently violated rules of the U.S. Judicial Conference, according to the Daily Business Review.…

May 30, 2007 2:05 PM CDT

Net Article Cited—by Border Guard

The long arm of the U.S. border patrol is reaching for a computer keyboard. That’s bad news for Andrew Feldmar, who once wrote an article about his drug use in the 1960s. Feldmar wrote that experimenting with psychedelic drugs “was an absolutely fascinating and life-altering experience for me.” A border…

May 14, 2007 2:01 PM CDT

Today in Legal History: Ellsberg Acquitted in Pentagon Case, Barbie Nazi War Crimes Trial Begins

On this day in 1973, charges against Daniel Ellsberg in the Pentagon Papers case were dismissed, due to government misconduct. (The administration of President Richard M. Nixon was implicated in a burglary of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office, in an effort to discredit him.) Ellsberg, a Pentagon employee, had released 7,000 pages…

May 11, 2007 11:00 AM CDT

Comcast to Face Antitrust Class Action

A federal judge has certified a class action lawsuit that alleges cable company Comcast Corp. raised prices after making deals with competitors to eliminate competition. U.S. District Judge John R. Padova certified the class for the Philadelphia area and will consider certification of a Chicago class later, according to the…

May 9, 2007 12:31 PM CDT