U.S. Supreme Court Justices and Press Access
26 Pages Posted: 17 May 2015
Date Written: December 1, 2012
Abstract
The Justices of the United States Supreme Court, in their role as articulators of legal doctrine in judicial opinions, have been largely press-positive and access-supportive. In contrast, these same Justices, in their role as establishers of their own institutional media policies and in their positions as individual representatives of a public institution, have been largely press-negative and access-wary. This disconnect may have ramifications for both public education and the flow of information in our constitutional democracy. This Article begins a conversation about possible rationales for the variance in the Court’s attitudes toward and treatment of the media. It suggests that although the Court’s concerns about institutional legitimacy and detachment from political pressures are admirable, they may not warrant as significant a gulf as currently exists between the Court’s case-law position on the press and its internal-policy position on the press.
Keywords: U.S. Supreme Court, Justices, press, media, newspapers, reporters
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