The Liberty Justice Center’s fight to uphold journalists’ and Tennesseans’ First Amendment rights continues as LJC filed an opening brief on March 13 asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to overturn a lower court’s decision that allowed the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Judicial Advisory Commission to keep rulemaking meetings closed to the press and the public.
The Tennessee Supreme Court’s Advisory Commission closed its once-public quarterly rulemaking meetings in 2018—violating the press’ and public’s First Amendment right of access. The Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit to challenge this closure in June 2022 on behalf of Dan McCaleb, journalist and Executive Editor of the news service The Center Square.
In March 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee issued a preliminary order that required the Advisory Commission to open its meetings while litigation continued. The court’s ruling held that opening the meetings “not only creates transparency and public confidence, it likely creates better rules.”
Despite this finding, the court reversed course in November 2024 and dismissed the case. The court’s ruling stated that because the Commission had closed its rulemaking meetings, their contents were not public information and therefore not subject to the First Amendment’s right of access.
In this opening brief, the Liberty Justice Center urges the Sixth Circuit to overturn the lower court’s decision and find that the press and public do have a First Amendment right to access these meetings.
“The First Amendment protects the public’s right to access meetings of bodies like Tennessee’s Judicial Advisory Commission so they can write and speak about what their government is doing,” said Jacob Huebert, President of the Liberty Justice Center and attorney for McCaleb. “We’re hopeful the Sixth Circuit will recognize that and restore the rights of our client, all journalists, and all Tennesseans.”
McCaleb v. Long was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee in Nashville on June 13, 2022.
The Liberty Justice Center’s legal filings in McCaleb v. Long are available here.