American Notes TRIALS

Journalists and civil libertarians shuddered last week at a chilling decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. By a 7-to-2 vote, the Justices refused to rule on a Florida judge's order that temporarily bars Cable News Network from broadcasting government tapes of discussions between General Manuel Noriega and his defense team. U.S. District Judge William M. Hoeveler must now determine whether CNN's broadcast of the privileged conversations might jeopardize Noriega's right to a fair trial on drug-trafficking charges.

This is the first time lawyers recall the court's allowing a "prior restraint" order to block a news organization from publishing or broadcasting news. In almost all earlier cases, the Supreme Court has equated prior restraints with censorship and declared them unconstitutional. "Now we have the government supporting a gag order on material the government gathered," said Jane Kirtley, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. "It's frightening." Warned CNN's counsel Floyd Abrams: "The risk of this decision is that courts will order more brief prior restraints. From a journalism perspective, even a day or two can be an eternity."