Judge Imposes Restrictions on Reporter/Witness in Tennessee Corruption Trial

The Nashville Post reports that a local TV reporter is challenging the constitutionality of the application of a restriction on public statements by witnesses in a federal corruption trial. In the course of exploring allegations that State Senator John Ford had been receiving money from an HMO in exchange for the use of his influence to direct funds to the enterprise, investigative reporter, Phil Williams, had uncovered notes in the drawer of an office abandoned by Ford, turned the material to federal law enforcement officers and reported on his discovery on television. Williams is now on the trial witness list but wants to continue to report on the story, including on his testimony and the documents he found. The jury for the case has been selected and admonished not to see, read or listen to media reports on the case.  However, the trial judge has ordered Williams and all the other witnesses not to speak about the case. First Amendment scholar and W&L Law Dean Rodney Smolla, comments in the Post report that such orders are within a trial judge's discretion and that a reporter/witness would not have to be excluded from the order's coverage. Williams asserts the order is an uncostitutional prior restraint, a view shared by Doug Lee of the First Amendment Center. Lee sees Williams' role as a journalist as circumscribing the reach of such an order.

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