All Articles
Everything MLRC has published, in any publication, since 2017.
Sally Jenkins and Bob Costas Hit Home Runs
George FreemanThe conversation between Hall of Fame sports journalists Sally Jenkins and Bob Costas was riveting to both sports fans and non-sports enthusiasts alike. But as many Broadway productions – and Gotham Hall is on Broadway – there was a lot of drama behind the scenes.
USTA’s Bad Call on Free Speech at the US Open
George FreemanThe USTA’s censorship of the crowd's reaction to Trump is cowardly, hypocritical and un-American.
Ten Questions to a Media Lawyer
Nancy WolffCowan DeBaets partner on her father's role in her decision to pursue law, AI and copyright, the Arnie Svenson case involving snapshots of NYC apartment dwellers, and the time she assisted a writer on The Good Wife.
Texas Supreme Court Narrows Available Relief Under the Public Information Act
David HelsleyThe ruling significantly narrows the enforcement mechanism of the TPIA and raises new questions about access to public records held by Texas’s most powerful elected officials.
Ninth Circuit Affirms Order Compelling Release of Contractor Diversity Reports
Brooke HendersonLooking forward, as more government work continues to be outsourced to federal contractors, this ruling provides media attorneys with another path when litigating Exemption 4 cases: commerciality is the new battleground. The Ninth Circuit proved that records must be more than simply “related to” a business to pass the threshold test of Exemption 4.
Seventh Circuit Holds Indiana “Police Buffer” Law is Unconstitutionally Vague
Grayson ClaryThe decision highlights that the Due Process Clause––complementing the First Amendment––provides journalists with important tools for challenging law enforcement discretion that threatens to chill newsgathering.
S.D.N.Y. Denies DOJ Request to Unseal Ghislaine Maxwell Grand Jury Transcripts
Matt KristoffersenThe government argued that the Maxwell grand jury materials would reveal new insights about the extent to which Epstein and Maxwell worked together to abuse children — or, at least, that the grand jury transcripts would shed new light on how the government investigated the two. But Judge Engelmayer said these reasons were “demonstrably false.”
Second Circuit Rules That Undecided Motions Are Judicial Documents Entitled to Presumption of Public Access
Sara Benson, Christine Walz, & Cindy GierhartThe Second Circuit found that the district court erred as a matter of law in holding that undecided motions rendered moot by the parties’ settlement of the case were categorically not “judicial documents” subject to a presumption of public access.
All in a Day’s Work? Carroll v. Trump and the Boundaries of Presidential Speech
Zoe TakalaIf Trump’s statements were indeed within the scope of his employment, the Presidential office gains extraordinary defamation immunity.
California Court Dismisses Amazon Tribe’s Libel Suit Against The New York Times and TMZ
Alexandra SettelmayerAt the heart of the suit was the allegation that The Times had claimed that the tribe was addicted to online pornography—something that The Times never said.
Illinois Legislature Amends the State’s Anti-SLAPP Law
Gregory R. NaronThe amendments to the CPA were specifically intended to override the Illinois Supreme Court’s nullifying interpretations in the Sandholm and Glorioso cases. After years of disuse, practitioners representing defamation defendants in Illinois courts should again consider filing CPA motions—with the opportunity to guide the development and rejuvenation of the law.
NBCUniversal Media Wins Summary Judgment in Devin Nunes Libel Suit
Alexandra M. SettelmayerIn granting summary judgment, the Court found that NBCU had not acted with actual malice because it relied upon the July 23, 2020 Politico Article, which it believed to be a reputable publication.
No Mulligan for Pro Golfer’s Dismissed $750 Million Defamation Lawsuit
Minch Minchin and Rachel E. FugateFollowing oral argument, the 11th Circuit upheld a dismissal of a $750 million defamation suit filed by professional golfer Patrick Reed because none of the dozens of at-issue statements were published with actual malice
Second Circuit Affirms Dismissal of George Santos’s Copyright Suit
Raphael Holoszyc-Pimentel and Nathan SiegelSantos had sued after the show Jimmy Kimmel Live! ran a segment called “Will Santos Say It?” that mocked Santos’s willingness to say absurd things for money in videos on the site Cameo—videos that Kimmel had allegedly tricked Santos into making.
In Defense of Intermediaries
Jeff HermesWhat should we make of intermediaries that yield to government pressure? It is important to remember that intermediaries are victims alongside the speakers who are silenced, when their choices are forcibly subordinated to the government’s viewpoint.
Litigation Funding
This paper focuses on the emergence of court rules and orders requiring disclosure of litigation funders to the court, case law addressing the permissible scope of discovery of litigation funders and funding arrangements, and related issues of confidentiality and privilege.
A Major Unconstitutional Assault: A Bias Monitor Installed by the White House at a News Division
George FreemanThe spectre of a state controlled, or even influenced, media is a horrific one. It goes against the very heart of the First Amendment. Who knows if a government assigned “bias monitor” at our historically most revered news division is the first or last step.
Ten Questions to a Media Lawyer
Carol Jean LoCiceroTampa attorney on her start in the law, cameras in the courts, Florida must-sees and more.
MLRC in Belfast – Titanic Day of Discussion and Debate
Dave HellerIn June, MLRC held its European Media Lawyers Conference in the gritty and history-rich city of Belfast.
Fair Use in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: An Analysis of Recent Federal Court Decisions in AI Training Data Cases
Amanda Harris and Jeffrey PayneIn two published orders issued within the same week, two federal judges in the Northern District of California rendered significant decisions addressing whether the use of copyrighted works to train generative artificial intelligence models constitutes fair use under federal copyright law.
