COURTHOUSE NEWS SERVICE v. RUPP

[Inigoes]

Case No. 1:22-cv-00548-BAH

Maryland is fighting tooth and nail to keep courthouse filings confidential, until they conduct a review.

The case revolves around a policy followed by Maryland and some other state courts where clerks hold back new pleadings for clerical work which often delays access until the next day. In their opinions on the First Amendment right of access, federal judges have shown that they get the idea that speed is the essence of news and that day-old news is old news.

“Timeliness is not only an essential component of the right to access, but it is also an essential component of a journalist’s line of work,” wrote U.S. Tenth Circuit Judge Mary Beck Briscoe in an opinion involving the same policy of holding back access to new pleadings in New Mexico.

Partly as a result of that ruling, New Mexico settled the case. The state agreed to give public access to the new pleadings when they are received and pay attorney fees.

Maryland on the other hand has gone to the mat in defending its policy of effectively sealing new pleadings until clerical work is finished.

https://www.courthousenews.com/first-amendment-fight-rages-in-maryland/