Opinion ID: 815370
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The “Logic” Prong

Text: The Richmond Newspapers framework also tasks us with considering “whether public access plays a significant positive role in the functioning of the particular process in question.” North Jersey, 308 F.3d at 209 (quoting PressEnterprise, 478 U.S. at 8). We have adopted six broad “values” that are typically served by openness: [1] promotion of informed discussion of governmental affairs by providing the public 38 with the more complete understanding of the [proceeding]; [2] promotion of the public perception of fairness which can be achieved only by permitting full public view of the proceedings; [3] providing a significant community therapeutic value as an outlet for community concern, hostility and emotion; [4] serving as a check on corrupt practices by exposing the [proceeding] to public scrutiny; [5] enhancement of the performance of all involved; and [6] discouragement of [fraud]. United States v. Simone, 14 F.3d 833, 839 (3d Cir. 1994). Of course, these are general categories and the list is by no means exhaustive or mandatory. For the logic prong to be satisfied, it need not be shown that the government process or the general public will benefit in all six ways from press and public access. In addition to considering the benefits that would result from press and public access, we must “take account of the flip side — the extent to which openness impairs the public good.” North Jersey, 308 F.3d at 217. Indeed, the logic analysis must account for the negative effects of openness, for otherwise “it is difficult to conceive of a government proceeding to which the public would not have a First Amendment right of access.” Id. (“[P]ublic access to any government affair, even internal CIA deliberations, would „promote informed discussion‟ among the citizenry. It is unlikely the Supreme Court intended this result.”). And while the consideration of potentially detrimental effects is speculative, we have held that “the Richmond Newspapers logic prong is unavoidably speculative.” Id. at 219. 39 Finally, we note that a necessary corollary to the “experience” prong being an objective inquiry is that the “logic” prong is likewise an objective inquiry. To hold otherwise would lead to untenable consequences: First Amendment rights of access would not only vary from venue to venue, but they would be subject to a kind of arbitrary examination that is anathema to our system of defined constitutional rights. In the case before us, we begin by noting the rather obvious fact that openness of the voting process helps prevent election fraud, voter intimidation, and various other kinds of electoral evils. “[S]unlight,” as has so often been observed, “is the most powerful of all disinfectants.” N.Y. Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 305 (1964). Of course, in situations where the press is not geographically far removed from the proceedings anyway, the benefits of additional oversight are inversely proportional to the distance of the press. The situation in Pennsylvania is a fine example: The press (like the general public) is only 10 feet away from the polling place, and we have no tangible or discernible evidence of how the public good would benefit so much more from the press being inside the room, rather than several paces away.22 22 At oral argument it became apparent that the press could simply stand at the 10-foot mark, point their cameras inside the polling place — which we note again is just the room designated for voting — and begin to record the activity. Counsel for Appellee conceded that this would be permissible, and counsel for Appellant had no satisfactory response as to how or why this procedure would not serve the Appellant‟s interest. 40 Appellant argues that access to the polling place was particularly necessary during this past election because of the Voter ID Law. More specifically, Appellant argues that the Voter ID Law — part of which was suspended for purposes of the November 6, 2012 election — may have caused voter confusion as to whether identification is required in order to cast a vote. As a result, Appellant argues that it was of the utmost importance for reporters to observe and record the goings on at the sign-in table during this election. We agree that openness in a situation where new legislation is being implemented or tested would generally serve the public good. It implicates several of the broad categories recognized in Simone, including the “promotion of informed discussion of governmental affairs by providing the public with [a] more complete understanding of the [proceeding].” Simone, 14 F.3d at 839. We therefore consider this as a factor weighing in favor of satisfying the “logic” prong.23 The experience and logic test requires that we also examine the potential dangers inherent in openness. Of greatest concern to us is that access for one is access for all. While Appellant urges that its reporters should be permitted to access the polling place for purposes of gathering news, there is no constitutionally valid way of limiting the right of access only to Appellant. Finding a right of access for one 23 The weight we accord to this fact in our inquiry under the logic prong would be different if the Voter ID Law actually had been implemented; indeed, our entire analysis of the “experience and logic” test could be different. However, that case is not before us, and we decline to speculate regarding its effect. As both parties concede, November 6, 2012 represented only a “soft test” of its implementation. 41 member of the press necessarily means that all other members of the press must or should share in that right. This brings us to the next concern, raised at oral argument: Who is a member of the press? Even if we were inclined to find a special First Amendment right for the press in this case (which we explicitly refuse to do), the class of persons to whom such a right is applicable is almost boundless. Counsel for Appellant could not divine a way to confine the potential beneficiaries of a ruling in its favor.24 Moreover, there is a very real possibility that the presence of reporters during the sign-in period, when individuals are necessarily exchanging personal information in preparation for casting a private vote, could concern, intimidate or even turn away potential voters. 24 More recently, membership in the Fourth Estate has been democratized. Access to blogs, smartphones, and an extensive network of social media sites (not the least of which are Twitter and Facebook) have transformed all of us into potential members of the media. While in almost any other situation this would be a boon to a free and democratic society, in the context of the voting process, the confusion and chaos that would result from a potentially limitless number of reporters in a polling place would work the opposite effect, potentially creating confusion, frustration, and delay. This is to say nothing of our earlier holding that the rights of access for the press and public are co-extensive. In this situation, anyone could record in the polling place if the First Amendment protected the right of access thereto. 42 On balance then, we find the “logic” prong of this inquiry disfavors finding a constitutionally protected right of access to the voting process. We therefore find that both prongs of the “experience and logic” test militate against finding a right of access in this case. As in North Jersey, we note that while the Constitution does not provide protection under the First Amendment, “there is, as always, the powerful check of political accountability.” North Jersey, 308 F.3d at 220. G. Beacon Journal is Unpersuasive Despite clear indications by the Supreme Court and this Circuit that the experience and logic test is the appropriate analytical framework for the instant dispute, Appellant urges us to follow the Sixth Circuit‟s conclusion in Beacon Journal Publishing Co., Inc. v. Blackwell, 389 F.3d 683 (6th Cir. 2004), a decision whose reasoning is ambiguous at best. We decline to do so. The Beacon Journal court analyzed the constitutionality of an Ohio statute similar to Pennsylvania‟s § 3060(d) as applied to members of the media. Like § 3060(d), the Ohio law mandated that “[n]o person, not an election official, employee, witness, challenger, or police officer, shall be allowed to enter the polling place during the election, except for the purpose of voting.” Id. at 684 (quoting Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 3501.35 (2002)). The Beacon Journal Publishing Company (which published the Beacon Journal newspaper) moved for injunctive relief, arguing that the law “abridg[ed its] First Amendment rights.” Id. The Sixth Circuit, without fully setting out the basis for its decision, applied strict scrutiny and held that the government had made no showing that the law was 43 “necessary to further the state‟s [interest in ensuring orderly elections] and „narrowly drawn to achieve that end.‟” Id. at 685 (quoting Perry, 460 U.S. at 45). It therefore concluded that the Ohio law likely abridged the freedom of the press, and ordered that the injunction be granted and that the state “immediately and forthwith permit [Beacon Journal] to have reasonable access to any polling place for the purpose of news-gathering and reporting so long as [Beacon Journal does] not interfere with poll workers and voters as voters exercise their right to vote.” Id. Beacon Journal‟s citation to Perry for the strict scrutiny standard is telling (and troubling). The Perry case, which concerned a law regulating expressive activity in a public school, formulated its analysis this way: “The existence of a right of access to public property and the standard by which limitations upon such a right must be evaluated differ depending on the character of the property at issue.” Perry, 460 U.S. at 44 (emphasis added). As we have explained above, the “right of access” at issue in Perry concerned access to a forum for speech purposes. The right at issue in this case (and in Beacon Journal) is different — it concerns the right of access to a government proceeding for news-gathering purposes. Moreover, in applying a forum analysis, the Sixth Circuit apparently took the polling place to be a public forum. This is incorrect and stands adverse to both Supreme Court precedent and our precedent. As we have just held: a polling place is a nonpublic forum, requiring the government to satisfy only a reasonableness analysis. Therein lies our discord with the Beacon Journal ruling. As our foregoing discussion demonstrates, adopting a traditional forum analysis for cases such as the one at bar sets a dangerous precedent 44 which permits the government too much freedom to hide their activities from the public‟s view. We cannot accept this result. Beacon Journal is a precedent we cannot follow.25 As there is no protected First Amendment right of access to a polling place for news-gathering purposes, we find that Appellant has failed to state a claim and affirm the District Court‟s dismissal of Count I.