(Washington, D.C.)—The Liberty Justice Center urges the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its case McCaleb v. Long and to reconsider the Sixth Circuit’s ruling that the First Amendment does not guarantee public access to meetings of Tennessee’s Judicial Advisory Commission—the body that recommends changes to court rules. Lower courts denied journalist Dan McCaleb’s request to attend the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Advisory Commission meetings, thereby limiting his and others’ First Amendment rights including the guarantee of access to public meetings.
McCaleb is the executive editor of The Center Square, an online media publication. Mr. McCaleb and the Liberty Justice Center challenged the Commission’s practice of closing meetings following a 2018 decision that limited access to court rule-making meetings after previously being open for 35 years. The Sixth Circuit held that the Commission’s meetings are “advisory, not adjudicatory,” and therefore fall outside the First Amendment access framework the court has recognized for trials and other meetings and hearings held by government agencies and boards. Judge Cole concurred in the judgment.
“Meetings on matters of public importance should be open to the public, including the media,” said Reilly Stephens, Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center. “We’re obviously disappointed that the Sixth Circuit chose to side with the public officials hiding their public duties from scrutiny. Especially when these same meetings are previously open to the public. These meetings should not be removed from public view just because it’s inconvenient to those in power, and we ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review this decision to make it clear once and for all that these meetings should be open to the public and the media.”
The Liberty Justice Center stands for the First Amendment rights of the free press. By restricting Mr. McCaleb’s access to the court’s rule-making meetings, the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Advisory Commission has violated this right. The Liberty Justice Center requests the U.S. Supreme Court intercede in this issue to restore freedom of the press and protect the rights of both Mr. McCaleb and the citizens who rely on his work – and other members of the media’s work – to understand and learn about what is happening in their state.
McCaleb v. Long was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on June 13, 2022. All case filings can be found here.