SCOTUSblog can't get Supreme Court press credentials under new policy; what about Denniston?
The U.S. Supreme Court has issued new guidelines barring regular press credentials for Supreme Court litigators and people who are not full-time journalists.
The new policy issued on Monday “pointedly excludes” SCOTUSblog because its founder, Tom Goldstein, practices before the court, the Associated Press reports. But the blog’s star reporter, Lyle Denniston, has started a new blog and will still get a press pass, Goldstein tells the publication.
The Supreme Court policy (PDF) says applicants for regular press credentials must operate or be employed by a media organization, and their primary professional work must be for the media organization through which they are seeking the press pass. They must not practice law before the court and must be independent of individuals who practice before the court.
A media organization is an entity that has as its principal business the regular gathering and reporting of original news disseminated through publicly accessible media–“print, television, radio, electronic or otherwise,” according to a commentary (PDF) published with the new policy. The media organization must have “operated continuously for the two years preceding the application for credentials,” the commentary says.
Supreme Court litigators are barred from press credentials, the commentary explains, to avoid “an appearance of an unfair advantage over other attorneys through the use of the journalistic privileges.”
The policy, which applies to the October 2015 term, says exceptions may be made “to address new or unanticipated situations, to prevent undue hardship, or to ensure fairness in the application of these requirements.”
Denniston had posted stories to SCOTUSblog using a press pass he had obtained as a result of his occasional work for a Boston radio station. Denniston started his own blog “coincidentally” ahead of the new court policy, Goldstein said, and he will continue to write for SCOTUSblog—as an independent contractor, rather than an employee.
“Because our reporter is an independent contractor, he’ll get a press credential, which is a practical solution,” Goldstein told AP.
Hat tip to How Appealing.
