Exam 10: The Media and the Judiciary

Under the theory of the Richmond Newspapers case and the Press-Enterprise I & II cases, public scrutiny of the criminal justice process benefits the public and is unlikely to harm the defendant's right to a fair trial. Consequently, judges rarely close criminal proceedings.

Increasingly, judges are instructing jurors not to seek information about the case on the Internet, nor to post Twitter or Facebook updates about their reaction to testimony or the progress of jury deliberations.

The U.S. Supreme Court rulings in Bridges, Pennekamp, and Harney:

Civil contempt is meant to coerce someone to do something.

The majority of states:

The First Amendment "right of access" in the Richmond Newspapers case provides that the press and public:

A criminal defendant's Sixth Amendment rights create a presumption against open court proceedings.

A state trial judge bans camera coverage of a trial. Nonetheless, a journalist uses a hidden camera to surreptitiously take a photograph of the proceedings. The journalist has a First Amendment right to disregard the judge's order.

In Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that judges may impose gag orders on press coverage criminal cases without examining the effectiveness of techniques such as change of venue.

A judge may not consider a defendant's repeated and willful violation of a gag order as a factor at sentencing.

Publishing the contents of an inadmissible confession is thought to be the most prejudicial pretrial publication.

Judges are permitted to issue a blanket ban on a trial participant's use of social media during the pendency of the case.

The U.S. Supreme Court:

Federal judges can move a trial to a different state to reduce the impact of pretrial publicity.

In Sheppard v. Maxwell, the U.S. Supreme Court said the trial judge should have guaranteed Dr. Sheppard a fair trial by enjoining the press from publishing prejudicial reports.

Which of the following statements are true about the gag order on Roger Stone, who was charged (and later pardoned) for lying, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering stemming from Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election?

The U.S. Supreme Court again emphasized the importance of public jury selection by holding that a defendant's Sixth Amendment right to a public trial was violated when a Georgia trial court closed jury selection proceedings without considering alternatives to closure.

What is the definition of the following term: -Contempt.

As part of a recent trend to abbreviate the jury selection process, courts in high-profile cases have engage in a two-step voir dire process. Questionnaires are sent to potential jurors; their answers are then used to reduce the number of potential jurors questioned in person.

Cameras are not currently allowed at the oral arguments heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, but some federal appeals courts have permitted cameras in appellate arguments.