Waller v. Georgia

Background

Georgia police placed wiretaps on many phones and executed simultaneous searches after uncovering a large lottery operation that gambled on stock trading volumes. People charged in the sweep moved to suppress the wiretap recordings and other seized evidence. The State asked the trial court to close the suppression hearing to the public over the defendants’ objections; the judge closed the seven-day hearing except to witnesses, court staff, lawyers, and the parties. Some tape excerpts involved persons not then on trial. The case went to trial, and the defendants were acquitted on the RICO counts but convicted of gambling offenses. The Georgia Supreme Court upheld the convictions and the closures, and the U.S. Supreme Court took the case.

Reasoning

The Court held that the Sixth Amendment right to a public trial covers pretrial suppression hearings and must be protected under the same standards announced in earlier public-access cases. Closure may be allowed only for an overriding interest, must be narrowly tailored, and requires specific findings and consideration of alternatives. The Court found the State’s reasons too vague here: the trial court gave broad, general findings and closed the entire hearing even though only about 2½ hours of tape were played and most of the hearing concerned other matters.

Real world impact

The Court reversed and remanded: state courts must hold a new suppression hearing open except for narrowly limited parts that truly require closure, and they must make specific findings before closing anything. A new full trial is required only if a new public suppression hearing produces materially different suppression rulings that affect the outcome.