Summary
The Supreme Court held that the First and Fourteenth Amendments do not give the press or the public a constitutional right of access to government-controlled information or to a jail beyond the access afforded to the general public. The Court reversed and remanded the judgment requiring the Alameda County Sheriff to provide expanded media access to the Santa Rita jail. Justice Stewart concurred in the judgment, and Justices Marshall and Blackmun did not participate; the text provided ends during Justice Stevens's dissent.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the First and Fourteenth Amendments give the news media a constitutional right of access to a county jail greater than the access afforded to the general public.
- Whether the Constitution requires government to provide the public or the press access to information and sources of information within government-controlled penal institutions.
- Whether the District Court abused its discretion by issuing a preliminary injunction requiring access to jail areas, recording equipment, and inmate interviews beyond the access available to the general public.
Holdings
- The First and Fourteenth Amendments do not give the press a special constitutional right of access to a jail or its inmates that is different from or greater than the access afforded to the general public.
- Neither the First Amendment nor the Fourteenth Amendment mandates a right of access to government information or sources of information within the government’s control.
Key quotations
“The public importance of conditions in penal facilities and the media's role of providing information afford no basis for reading into the Constitution a right of the public or the media to enter these institutions, with camera equipment, and take moving and still pictures of inmates for broadcast purposes.” (438 U.S. at 9)
“Neither the First Amendment nor the Fourteenth Amendment mandates a right of access to government information or sources of information within the government's control.” (438 U.S. at 15-16)
Factual background
KQED reported a prisoner suicide and allegations that conditions in the Greystone portion of the Santa Rita jail caused inmate illnesses. After the Sheriff denied KQED permission to inspect and photograph the facility, KQED and the NAACP sued. During the litigation, the Sheriff instituted limited public tours, but the tours excluded portions of the jail, prohibited cameras and recording equipment, and generally prevented inmate interviews.
Procedural history
KQED and two NAACP branches sued after the Sheriff denied KQED access to inspect, photograph, record, and interview inmates at the Santa Rita jail. The District Court preliminarily ordered broader media access, including use of recording equipment and inmate interviews. The Ninth Circuit affirmed, but the Supreme Court reversed and remanded, concluding that the Constitution did not require the challenged special access.
Remand instructions
Further proceedings consistent with the holding that the press has no special constitutional right of access to the Alameda County Jail beyond that afforded to the public generally.