A free press is fundamental to our democracy. When government officials choose to block members of the press and public from accessing court rulemaking meetings—where decisions affecting citizens are made in secret—they undermine government transparency and the public trust. That is exactly what has happened in Tennessee, where state judicial officials and attorneys appointed to an advisory commission by the Tennessee Supreme Court decided to close their meetings to reporters and the public.
The Tennessee Supreme Court’s Advisory Commission typically meets quarterly, making recommendations to the Tennessee Supreme Court on proposed court rules of practice and procedure. The issues discussed and recommendations made during these meetings directly affect the lives of everyday Tennesseans, including how they are governed in the courtroom.
Even though Federal Advisory Committees—who perform the same function as Tennessee’s Advisory Commission at the federal level—have had their court rulemaking meetings open to the public and press for 35 years, a decision was made in 2018 to close the once-public meetings of Tennessee’s Advisory Commission.
In June 2022, in the interest of transparent and open government, the Liberty Justice Center filed a First Amendment right of access lawsuit to allow the press and public access to the Advisory Commission’s meetings.
The Liberty Justice Center represents Dan McCaleb, Executive Editor of the online news service the Center Square, in his challenge against Michelle Long, Director of the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. Under Dan McCaleb’s leadership, the Center Square reports on state- and local-level government and economic issues across the country, including the state of Tennessee.
In March 2023, a federal court found that the First Amendment right of access attaches to meetings of Tennessee’s Advisory Commission under United States Supreme Court precedent. The judge issued a federal court order and preliminary injunction requiring Director Long and her Office to provide access to the public and press to observe these meetings. Under the preliminary injunction, the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Advisory Commission now must publicly livestream its quarterly meetings.
The Liberty Justice Center, Dan McCaleb, and the Center Square are pressing forward in this crucial First Amendment litigation to make the preliminary injunction a permanent injunction so these meetings will always be open to the public and press.
Liberty Justice Center Senior Counsel Buck Dougherty said, “This impact of this case can be summarized in a famous quote, made over a century ago by United States Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis—‘Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.’”
McCaleb v. Long was filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on June 13, 2022.
Buck Dougherty is a Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, where he litigates in trial and appellate courts on behalf of everyday citizens in order to protect their civil liberties and preserve their constitutional rights.
James McQuaid is a staff attorney at Liberty Justice Center where he assists in cases to protect the rights to free speech, economic liberty, private property, and other Constitutional rights in courts across the country.
Tennesseans can now witness how the state Supreme Court’s Advisory Commission makes decisions on court policy, following a lawsuit that accused the panel of undermining “government transparency and the public trust” by not allowing members of the public, or the media, the view the taxpayer funded meetings. The commission’s next...