First Amendment advocates were alarmed by the New York trial court judge's order preventing The New York Times from publishing documents prepared by a lawyer for the conservative group Project Veritas.
Justice Charles D. Wood of the State Supreme Court in Westchester County ordered The Times to destroy any electronic copies of the Project Veritas documents it has in its possession.
The Times said it would appeal.
The publisher of The Times, A.G. Sulzberger, said in a statement on Friday that the ruling should raise alarms for anyone concerned about the dangers of government overreach into what the public can and cannot know. The judge in the Pentagon Papers case barred The Times from publishing information about a prominent and influential organization that was obtained legally in the ordinary course of reporting.
Justice Wood ordered the company to return the documents, but Mr. Sulzberger said it could present risks to expose sources.
Elizabeth Locke, a lawyer for Project Veritas, said in a statement on Friday that the New York Times' behavior was irregular and outside the boundaries of law. The court's thoughtful and well-researched opinion is a victory for the First Amendment for all journalists. Ms. Locke said The Times was a vehicle for the prosecution of a political agenda.
The judge ordered the creation of a database of The Times of defamation as part of a libel lawsuit filed in 2020.
The Justice Department is looking into the theft of a diary that belonged to the daughter of the president. The Times reported on the investigation in November and quoted a memo from a lawyer for the group that said they could engage in deceptive reporting practices without violating federal law.
The libel case against The Times was started several years ago. The newspaper was accused of violating its right to attorney-client privilege. The group argued that the memos prepared by its lawyer were related to legal issues in its libel lawsuit against The Times and that the publication of the memos amounted to an attempt to humiliate the litigation opponent.
The paper was temporarily prevented from further dissemination or seeking those memos and other privileged materials after Justice Wood issued an order last month.
The Times was dressing up its arguments in First Amendment law according to lawyers for Project Veritas. A decision to deny the protective order will allow any would-be citizen journalist,blogger orInstagram influencer to claim the right to publish their litigation adversary's attorney-client privileged communication with impunity.
Lawyers for The Times wrote that the memos could not be prevented from being published because they were obtained through traditional reporting. The paper argued that any attempt to prevent it from publishing its journalism was an unconstitutional prior restraint that is forbidden by the First Amendment.
The Times wrote in a brief that this is not a run-of-the-mill discovery dispute. Reporters doing their jobs obtained the information published by The Times. Project Veritas wants to suppress unfavorable news coverage of its activities. That it can't do.
The leader of the group, Mr. O'Keefe, often uses surreptitious cameras and faked identities in videos that are meant to humiliate news outlets, Democratic officials, labor groups and liberals.
This is not a finished story. You can check back for updates.
