Opinion ID: 792413
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Public's First Amendment Right of Access to Criminal Proceedings

Text: 48 The press and public enjoy a qualified First Amendment right of access to criminal trial proceedings. Globe Newspaper Co. v. Superior Court for the County of Norfolk, 457 U.S. 596, 603, 102 S.Ct. 2613, 73 L.Ed.2d 248 (1982); Chicago Tribune Co. v. Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., 263 F.3d 1304, 1310 (11th Cir.2001). 14 Open criminal proceedings have been an indispensable attribute of an Anglo-American trial for centuries. Richmond Newspapers v. Virginia, 448 U.S. 555, 569, 100 S.Ct. 2814, 65 L.Ed.2d 973 (1980) (plurality opinion); see also Nixon v. Warner Communications, Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 597-98, 98 S.Ct. 1306, 55 L.Ed.2d 570 (1978) (holding that the press and public also enjoy a common-law right of access to judicial records). Public trials and judicial proceedings are rooted in the `principle that justice cannot survive behind walls of silence,' and in the `traditional Anglo-American distrust for secret trials.' Gannett Co. v. DePasquale, 443 U.S. 368, 412, 99 S.Ct. 2898, 61 L.Ed.2d 608 (1979) (quoting Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 333, 349, 86 S.Ct. 1507, 16 L.Ed.2d 600 (1966), and In re Oliver, 333 U.S. 257, 268, 68 S.Ct. 499, 92 L.Ed. 682 (1948)) (Blackmun, J. concurring in part); Richmond Newspapers, 448 U.S. at 591, 100 S.Ct. 2814 (Brennan, J., concurring) (recognizing this nation's historic distrust of secret proceedings, their inherent dangers to freedom, and the universal requirement of our federal and state governments that criminal trials be public) (quoting In re Oliver, 333 U.S. at 273, 68 S.Ct. 499). 49