Taking Liberties
November 9, 2009 3:33 PM

Judge Bans Twitter From Court

By
Declan McCullagh
Topics
Internet
(AP / CBS)
Twittering from court is prohibited, according to a federal judge in Georgia who banned spectators from sending live updates from a criminal trial.

U.S. District Judge Clay Land in Georgia wrote that Rule 53 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure should be interpreted to ban Twitter.

Rule 53 says: "Except as otherwise provided by a statute or these rules, the court must not permit the taking of photographs in the courtroom during judicial proceedings or the broadcasting of judicial proceedings from the courtroom."

A reporter for the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer had asked permission to Twitter updates from the corruption trial of local attorney Mark Shelnutt, which was scheduled to start on Monday.

Land wrote in his four-page order last week, which was noted on Volokh.com:
The Court finds that the term "broadcasting" in Rule 53 includes sending electronic messages from a courtroom that contemporaneously describe the trial proceedings and are instantaneously available for public viewing. Although "broadcasting" is typically associated with the dissemination of information via television or radio, its plain meaning is broader than that. The definition of "broadcast" includes "casting or scattering in all directions" and "the act of making widely known." Webster's Third New International Dictionary (Unabridged) 280 (1993). It cannot be reasonably disputed that "twittering," as previously described, would result in casting to the general public and thus making widely known the trial proceedings. Moreover, it appears clear that the drafters of Rule 53 intended to extend the Rule's reach beyond the transmission of trial proceedings via television and radio.

This is only one trial judge's interpretation of Rule 53, of course, and other courts may not follow suit; one judge in Kansas ruled earlier this year that Twitter was perfectly fine, and CBSNews.com sister site ZDNET Australia successfully raised the same issue in a copyright case. Plus, Judge Clay Land seems to be engaging in a creative interpretation of the word "broadcasting" -- what if a reporter sends e-mail messages to his editor? Is a one-recipient message really a "broadcast?"

Then again, all an intrepid spectator in Judge Clay Land's courtroom apparently needs to do is write something inside the courtroom, and then step outside before pressing "send."

P.S. About a decade ago, when I was covering oral arguments before the D.C. Circuit for Wired, a court bureaucrat came up to me and accused me of using a wireless device in the courtroom. I had a Palm VII at the time, and previously had used it in the hallways during breaks. I didn't even have it on me that day, and it was unclear what court rules would be violated in any case, but the idea of live courtroom updates certainly annoyed someone. This seems backward: Live video and live-blogging should be the default, and restricted only with very good reason.
Declan McCullagh is a correspondent for CBSNews.com. He can be reached at declan@cbsnews.com and can be followed on Twitter as declanm. You can bookmark Declan's Taking Liberties site here, or subscribe to the RSS feed.

  • Declan McCullagh is the chief political correspondent for CNET. Declan previously was a reporter for Time and the Washington bureau chief for Wired and wrote the Taking Liberties section and Other People's Money column for CBS News' Web site.

Add a Comment
by K_Whitmire November 10, 2009 3:50 PM EST
This is an unfortunate decision. I'm a reporter who covered the trial of Birmingham, Ala., Mayor Larry Langford. I used Twitter constantly during the trial, as did several other reporters and media outlets. After the trial, the presiding judge, U.S. District Judge Scott Coogler, had complementary things to say about the media's use of Twitter. Instead of seeing it as a kind of broadcast, Coogler found that it was something more akin to note-taking. The notes were then transmitted outside the courtroom where they could be read, he said. Coogler said his first concern was that it not disrupt or affect the trial. To that end, it actually cut down on the number of interruptions, as reporters were not constantly racing from the courtroom to file stories or phone their notes back to the office. I hope Judge Land reconsiders his ruling or the 11th Circuit overturns it.

In the meantime, my advice to my colleagues in the media is to seek forgiveness before asking permission.
Reply to this comment
by error10 November 9, 2009 4:32 PM EST
Broadcasting court proceedings has to be banned. Otherwise people might actually be able to see how the system screws people.
Reply to this comment
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