The National Law Journal has been prohibited by court order from publishing information it obtained legally. D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff issued a temporary restraining order against the National Law Journal last Friday after she discovered the news organization was planning to publish a story regarding the fee dispute between District of Columbia-based law firm Hogan Lovells and one of its former clients. The news organization had legally obtained the information through public court documents.
“If I am throwing 80 years of First Amendment jurisprudence on its head, so be it,” the judge reportedly said. She also allegedly indicated that the court’s interest in maintaining the integrity of the docket overrides First Amendment concerns.
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