Civil Liberties

lastlib

(25,075 posts)

15. Fair trial vs. free press: .....

Mon Mar 19, 2018, 10:40 PM

Mar 2018

Prejudicial press coverage of a criminal case poisons a pool of potential jurors. Can a court "gag" the press, barring coverage of the case to prevent infecting jurors with information/opinion prejudicial to a defendant? Could Lee Harvey Oswald have gotten a fair trial in the U.S. for the assassination of Pres. Kennedy?

Short answer: courts have to adjudicate the priorities, and decide on the appropriate remedy in any such case where constitutional rights appear to conflict. In our system, we charge the judges to have the wisdom of Solomon to decide what the constitutional priorities are, and to protect the rights that are judged to be the most important, with the least harm to those other rights.

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What happens when constitutional rights contradict each other? [View all] DetlefK Mar 2018 OP

be best to offer such a case. BTW, its a purpose of the Supreme Court beachbum bob Mar 2018 #1

E.g. 1st and 2nd Amendment. DetlefK Mar 2018 #2

under what scenario is the conflict? I don't see any possible one occurring.... beachbum bob Mar 2018 #3

That's irrelevant. DetlefK Mar 2018 #4

no context. As we have had the constitution for a few hundred years and no instance beachbum bob Mar 2018 #5

Okay, if you insist, here's one example of clashing rights: DetlefK Mar 2018 #6

Bad example WPB_dem Mar 2018 #7

Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait DetlefK Mar 2018 #11

Hi again discntnt_irny_srcsm Mar 2018 #12

How do you know that there is no such right? DetlefK Mar 2018 #13

mea culpa discntnt_irny_srcsm Mar 2018 #14

Agree with WPB_Dem JayhawkSD Mar 2018 #8

Try this: mahatmakanejeeves Mar 2018 #9

try this one: discntnt_irny_srcsm Mar 2018 #10

Fair trial vs. free press: ..... lastlib Mar 2018 #15