Opinion ID: 1470023
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Attorney General's Appeal to this Court

Text: On June 5, 2006, the state and the Attorney General appealed the trial justice's findings of contempt and his imposition of sanctions. [26] They then asked this Court to stay paragraph 1.1 of the Superior Court's December order. We agreed to do so on June 15, 2006, although we emphasized that the trial court's order directing the Attorney General to comply with Rule 3.6 remained in full effect. In its appeal, the state refutes the trial justice's findings of contempt, asserting that the Attorney General had a common-law privilege and a duty as a constitutional officer to comment on this case because it was a matter of public importance. Further, the state argues that the trial justice's application of Rule 3.6 to the Attorney General was unconstitutional because it violated his First Amendment rights and that, in any event, the spin and twist comment did not violate the rule because no reasonable attorney would have believed that there was a substantial likelihood that the statement would prejudice the pending trial. The state also contends that paragraph 1.1 of the December order was unconstitutionally vague and overbroad, and that the Attorney General's website posting did not violate any of the Superior Court's prohibitions. Finally, the state argues that the penalties imposed by the trial justice were excessive. The defendants counter that (1) the trial justice's orders were necessary to protect their right to a fair trial, (2) the state waived its rights, under the collateral-bar doctrine, to challenge the enforceability of the Superior Court's orders, [27] (3) the Attorney General was not exempt from Rule 3.6, which strikes an appropriate balance between his First Amendment rights and defendants' right to a fair trial, (4) the trial justice's findings of contempt were neither clearly wrong nor arbitrary, (5) the monetary sanctions imposed were within the broad discretion of the trial court, [28] and (6) the Attorney General's comments were not core political speech protected by the First Amendment. After considering the record, the briefs submitted by the parties, and the oral arguments of counsel, we respectfully disagree with the trial justice's findings of contempt. With regard to the first contempt finding, irrespective of whether the November order meets constitutional muster and was enforceable, [29] we nonetheless do not believe the Attorney General's spin and twist comment violated that order. We also disagree with the second finding of contempt because (1) we do not believe the December order was enforceable against the Attorney General and (2) we do not think the Attorney General's official website posting violated any directive from the trial court. For these reasons, we reverse the Superior Court's findings of contempt and we vacate all related sanctions.