Free speech: Supreme Court reaffirms ban on death row interviews
March 9, 2010 by donal brown
Filed under Uncategorized
The Supreme Court will not hear the case of a death row inmate who claimed his First Amendment rights were violated by a federal policy that banned interviews with death row inmates. -db
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
March 8, 2010
By Curry Andrews
David Paul Hammer sued the Bureau of Prisons in 2001 when he was denied face time with the media after Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh’s appearance on “60 Minutes” prompted a federal rule change. Then U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft justified the prohibition on interviews with death row inmates by citing the potential dangers of giving criminals airtime. Hammer argued that it was a violation of his free speech rights.
A trial court initially dismissed Hammer’s lawsuit, but a three-judge appellate panel said more information was needed to decide whether the case was properly dismissed. Numerous media outlets, including The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, filed friend-of-the-court briefs with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Indianapolis (7th Cir.), which upheld the ban. Hammer then asked the Supreme Court to intervene.
The high court’s decision not to hear Hammer v. Ashcroft means the ban on face-to-face interviews with death row inmates in federal prisons will stand.
Copyright 2010 The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
