Scalia and Free Speech
Justice Scalia is in the news again. In the latest dust-up, a federal marshal forced reporters to erase tape recordings of a Scalia speech discussing the Constitution. It appears that the speech in question took place at a private high school, but was open to the media. Apparently Scalia is of the belief that he can control who records his appearances:
Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said it was up to Scalia and his staff to set guidelines for coverage of his events and added, “It’s standard that his speeches are not televised.”
The federal marshal in question may have been acting on Scalia’s orders, but as an employee of the federal government, may be liable for any constitutional injury suffered by the reporters. If the reporters wanted to force the issue, they could allege that their free-speech rights were abridged by the marshal’s actions. Now, I can understand Scalia not wanting the Supreme Court’s private deliberations to be televised. However, extending this ban to every utterance made by a justice borders on paranoia, and is probably unconstitutional.
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