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Constitutional Law Keyed to Stone
Globe Newspaper Co. v. Superior Court
Citation:
457 U.S. 596 (1982)Facts
In 1979, Globe Newspaper Company attempted to gain access to a rape trial in Massachusetts where the defendant was charged with forcible rape of three girls who were minors (two 16-year-olds and one 17-year-old). The trial judge ordered the courtroom closed during the trial, relying on Massachusetts General Laws ch. 278, § 16A, which required exclusion of the press and public during testimony of minor victims in sex offense cases. Globe moved to have this order revoked, but the trial court denied the motion. Globe sought injunctive relief from a justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, who also denied relief despite the prosecution’s statement that, on behalf of the victims, it waived any right to exclude the press. The trial proceeded with the public and press excluded, and the defendant was acquitted. Globe’s appeal continued after the trial concluded, with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ultimately interpreting the statute to require closure only during the minor victims’ testimony, not the entire trial, and upholding the statute’s constitutionality.
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