rumor has it that Tanner is going to replace Jackson on the Microsoft trial and vice versa. this will allow the appeals court to make an empirical test of a question that has long troubled them, which one of the judges is the greater jackass. Phill

-----Original Message----- From: owner-fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu [mailto:owner-fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu]On Behalf Of Declan McCullagh Sent: Friday, April 06, 2001 12:13 PM To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net; fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu Subject: Judge in Jim Bell trial says media may not quote public documents

----- Forwarded message from Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> -----

From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> Subject: Judge in Jim Bell trial says media may not quote public documents To: politech@politechbot.com Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 12:11:33 -0400 X-URL: http://www.mccullagh.org/ User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.2i

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,42894,00.html

Cypherpunk Judge Warns Media by Declan McCullagh (declan@wired.com) 8:00 a.m. Apr. 6, 2001 PDT

TACOMA, Washington -- A federal judge has threatened media outlets with contempt charges if they quote from public documents on a court website, prompting outcries from journalist groups.

U.S. District Judge Jack Tanner warned Thursday that anyone who published the name of a juror in the criminal trial of U.S. v. James Dalton Bell would go to jail. The list of jurors is available on the Pacer website provided by the federal court system.

"No one in the print media, electronic media, no member of the prosecution, no witness for the prosecution, nor the defense lawyers, are to print, under any circumstances, the names of these jurors... under penalty of contempt," Tanner said.

Gregg Leslie, the legal defense director for the Virginia-based Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said: "The sweeping nature of such an order is not just unconstitutional, but truly outrageous. Its absurdity is compounded by the fact that it presumes toreach parties not subject to the court's jurisdiction."

"Unfortunately, many judges seem to think that the old, well-established standards barring prior restraints on publication of truthful, lawfully obtained information don't apply to electronic records or other court information," Leslie said. "They do."

Tanner is an unpredictable 82-year old jurist known to use his contempt powers broadly.

In a prior trial involving Bell's defense lawyer, Robert Leen, Tanner briefly held Leen in contempt after his client's son acted up in court.

Tanner also sealed the entire case file, including traditionally public documents such as the charges against the defendant, until the jury reaches a verdict. The trial is expected to conclude Friday or Monday.

[...]

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