Florida Star v. B. J. F.

Background

A small Jacksonville weekly newspaper printed the full name of a woman who reported a rape after copying a police incident report that had been placed in a sheriff’s pressroom. The woman sued the paper under a Florida law that forbids publishing the names of sexual-offense victims. At trial the judge found the paper negligent as a matter of law, and a jury awarded $75,000 in compensatory damages and $25,000 in punitive damages; the Florida courts upheld that result.

Reasoning

The Supreme Court asked whether the First Amendment allows civil damages against a newspaper that lawfully obtained and accurately printed a rape victim’s name from a government document. Relying on prior decisions, the Court said that when the press lawfully gets truthful information about a matter of public importance, the government may punish publication only to protect an interest of the highest order and only by narrowly tailored means. Because the police department itself released the report, the statute was underinclusive and imposed a strict negligence rule that was not narrowly tailored, the Court reversed the judgment against the paper.

Real world impact

The decision protects routine news reporting that relies on government releases and makes it harder for states to impose damages on newspapers in similar circumstances. It also places the burden on governments to safeguard sensitive records and on courts to assess privacy claims case by case. The ruling is limited — it does not say truthful publication is always protected and leaves room for narrower, carefully drafted restrictions in different facts.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Scalia agreed the law was fatally underinclusive. Justice White (joined by two Justices) dissented, emphasizing the victim’s serious harms and arguing the verdict was justified by the newspaper’s negligence.