Case Resources
Search this Case
in Google Scholar
on the Web
Google Web Search
MSN Web Search
Yahoo! Web Search
in the News
Google News Search
Google News Archive Search
Yahoo! News Search
in the Blogs
BlawgSearch.com Search
Google Blog Search
Technorati Blog Search
in other Databases
Google Book Search
Justia Research Resources
Justia.com
Supreme Court Center
US Regulation Tracker
US District Court Opinions
Federal District Court Civil Case Filings
Legal Blog Search
Legal Podcast Search
USA Constitution Annotated
Online Research Resources
Cornell LII
Cornell Wex Dictionary & Encyclopedia
LLRX.com - Legal Research
Expert Witness Directory
Nolo Consumer & Business
US Court Forms
WashLaw Directory
World LII
Cases Provided By
Creative Commons
public.resource.org
Wxyz, Inc., and Michigan Association of Broadcasters,plaintiffs-appellees, v. Michael J. Hand, District Judge, 47th Judicial Districtcourt of the State of Michigan, Defendant-appellant
United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit. - 658 F.2d 420
Argued Dec. 18, 1980.Decided Aug. 19, 1981
John B. Kiefer, Kiefer, Allen & Cavanagh, Detroit, Mich., for defendant-appellant.
John B. Kemp, Kemp, Klein, Endelman & Beer, Raymond L. Morrow, Southfield, Mich., for plaintiffs-appellees.
Before WEICK and BOYCE F. MARTIN, Jr., Circuit Judges, and NIXON, District Judge.*
BOYCE F. MARTIN, Jr., Circuit Judge.
Michael J. Hand, a District Judge in the 47th Judicial District of the State of Michigan, appeals from the District Court's grant of partial summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs-appellees WXYZ, Inc. and the Michigan Association of Broadcasters. The court held that a Michigan statute and a suppression order issued by Judge Hand pursuant to that statute violated the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. WXYZ, Inc. v. Hand, 463 F.Supp. 1070 (E.D.Mich.1979). We affirm.
On September 2, 1977, a Catholic priest from Farmington, Michigan was arrested and charged with second degree criminal sexual conduct, in violation of MCLA § 750.520c. On the day of the arrest, the priest's attorney applied to Judge Hand for a suppression order under MCLA § 750.520k, which provides:
Upon the request of the counsel or the victim or actor in a prosecution under sections 520b to 520g1 the magistrate before whom any person is brought on a charge of having committed an offense under sections 520b to 520g shall order that the names of the victim and actor and details of the alleged offense be suppressed until such time as the actor is arraigned on the information, the charge is dismissed, or the case is otherwise concluded, whichever occurs first.
The court's order stated:
On order of the Court, the certified questions are considered, and the Court respectfully declines to respond to the questions because (i) the interpretation of the Michigan statute is so closely intertwined with a federal constitutional question that it will be necessary to consider the federal question in order to decide the state law question and (ii) the state constitutional questions parallel federal constitutional questions, and therefore the issues cannot be decided entirely as matters of state law under the procedure provided in GCR 1963, 792.2.
Kavanagh, C. J., Fitzgerald and Moody, Jr., JJ., would grant the request.
Judge Hand was permanently enjoined from taking any action to find appellees in contempt and from issuing any orders pursuant to MCLA § 750.520k without expressly qualifying such orders so that they do not apply to the news media
The certificate stated, in pertinent part:
This Court is reluctant to interfere with the proper functioning of the Michigan judiciary; and the Court is reluctant to make a determination (as is likely ) that the statute as orally construed by Judge Hand violates the Constitution of the United States, if the proper construction of the statute or a state constitutional determination makes such federal determination unnecessary. The issues must inevitably reoccur, and it is likely that the United States District Courts in Michigan will again be called upon to issue injunctions against state judges unless and until the issues are resolved. It is for these reasons that the Court certifies to the Michigan Supreme Court the following questions.
(Emphasis added).
The record suggests that the potentially interested parties in Michigan, other than Judge Hand, are either not interested in saving the statute or do not think a constitutional construction is possible. The District Court invited Michigan's Attorney General and the Oakland County prosecutor to the hearing on plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction and encouraged them to participate in the hearing. The Attorney General's Office failed to send a representative to the hearing. The Chief Appellate Counsel for the prosecutor's office appeared and stated: "In a nutshell, we believe the statute is unconstitutional and that the suppression order should not have been ordered." The prosecutor's office did not participate further in the proceedings
Contrary to Judge Hand's assertion, the suppression order is unquestionably a prior restraint. Its clear purpose is not to punish speech after the fact of publication, but rather to prohibit it outright. See Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart, supra, at 559, 96 S.Ct. at 2802
Judge Hand argues that the suppression order does not act as a "gag" because it merely postpones the right to disclose the information. This argument is without merit. The burden on the state is not reduced by the temporary nature of the restraint. Nebraska Press Association, supra, at 559, 96 S.Ct. at 2802
It is also clear that the suppression order mandated by the statute is too broad. The state interest asserted here can never justify the suppression of the "details of the alleged offense." See Smith v. Daily Mail, supra, 443 U.S. at 108, 99 S.Ct. at 2673 (Rehnquist, J., concurring); In Re Halkin, supra, at 193