Nebraska Press Association, Applicants, V

Background

A state trial judge in Lincoln County, Nebraska issued a restrictive order that limited what the media could report about a pending criminal case by largely incorporating the Nebraska Bar‑Press Guidelines. The media applicants asked a Justice of this Court for an emergency stay. Justice Blackmun, sitting as Circuit Justice, had previously noted the heavy First and Fourteenth Amendment interests and asked Nebraska’s Supreme Court to act promptly, but that court delayed consideration.

Reasoning

Justice Blackmun addressed whether he could act when the State’s highest court had not yet decided the challenge and whether the order amounted to an unconstitutional prior restraint on news reporting. He concluded that unreasonable delay in lifting a prior restraint can effectively make the restraint final and that he therefore had power to grant temporary relief. He found the wholesale incorporation of vague “guidelines” impermissible and stayed that part of the order. He also stayed prohibitions on reporting many crime details, victims’ identities, and public testimony from a preliminary hearing, while recognizing limited, specific restrictions might be appropriate for strongly implicative facts like confessions or certain arrest details.

Real world impact

The stay lets news organizations resume reporting many factual aspects of the crimes and preliminary proceedings while leaving room for narrowly tailored pretrial limits where publicity would irreparably prejudice a fair trial. The Nebraska courts remain free to reimpose particular, specific restrictions that fit the facts. This order is temporary and subject to further action by Nebraska’s Supreme Court and this Court.