Opinion ID: 1427176
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: the public right of access to judicial proceedings

Text: In 1979, the United States Supreme Court decided Gannett Co. v. DePasquale, 443 U.S. 368, 99 S.Ct. 2898, 61 L.Ed.2d 608 (1979). This case involved the closure of a pretrial suppression hearing. The defendant requested a closed hearing, and the prosecution agreed. No media representative objected at the time, but three days later the newspaper requested that the transcript be made public. The trial judge accepted briefs and heard argument, but refused to release the transcript, and the newspaper appealed. In addition to Justice Stewart's majority opinion, there were three concurring opinions and a dissent joined by four justices. Although the narrow holding of the case is that a trial judge does have discretion to close a pretrial suppression hearing, the language of the opinion is much broader, on its face at least, applying to pretrial proceedings. Although this is the most nearly on point of any United States Supreme Court case, its clarity is obscured because of the Court's inability to speak with one voice. Chief Justice Burger's concurring opinion emphasized the historical difference between trials and pretrial proceedings. His view seems to be that there is no public right of access to pretrial proceedings. Justice Powell's opinion recognizes a First Amendment right to open pretrial proceedings, but asserts that this right was adequately considered in the trial judge's decision to restrict access to the proceeding. Justice Rehnquist appears to be of the view that there is absolutely no First Amendment right to open judicial proceedings and the trial judge has discretion to close the hearing for any reason. The four dissenters assert that the Sixth Amendment provides the public a constitutional right of access to criminal proceedings. In 1980, the United States Supreme Court examined the question of the public's right of access to a criminal trial in Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia, 448 U.S. 555, 100 S.Ct. 2814, 65 L.Ed.2d 973 (1980). Again, both the accused and the prosecutor agreed to closure, but the news media objected. Like the case now before this Court, the trial judge held a hearing on the closure motion, where the media were allowed to present their arguments, but no evidence was presented and no written findings were made. The Court held that absent an overriding interest articulated in findings and supported by evidence, a trial judge may not exclude the public from a criminal trial. Id. at 581, 100 S.Ct. at 2829. In 1982, the issue came before the Court again in Globe Newspaper Co. v. Superior Court, 457 U.S. 596, 102 S.Ct. 2613, 73 L.Ed.2d 248 (1982). There the Court considered a state statute that required the exclusion of the public from the courtroom during the testimony of minor victims in sex offense trials. The Court held that the statute violated the First Amendment public right to access to criminal trials and was therefore invalid. Most recently, the Court again confronted the problem of public access to criminal proceedings in Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court, ___ U.S. ___, 104 S.Ct. 819, 78 L.Ed.2d 629 (1984). This case affirms that the First Amendment right of public access to criminal trials applies to voir dire questioning of the jury panel, which, of course, is an integral part of the trial itself. In summary, the United States Supreme Court has clearly established a First Amendment right of public access to criminal trials, but has not extended this right to pretrial proceedings.