Globe Newspaper Company v. Superior Court 457 U.S. 596 (1982)
GLOBE NEWSPAPER COMPANY v. SUPERIOR COURT 457 U.S. 596 (1982)
Writing for a 7–2 Court, Justice william j. brennan sweepingly broadened the right of the public and press to attend criminal trials. On first amendment grounds the Court held unconstitutional a state act intended to protect the juvenile victims of sex crimes by closing the trial proceedings. The exclusion of the press and public rested chiefly on the state's interest in safeguarding those victims from additional trauma and humiliation by not requiring them to testify in open court. The Supreme Court did not find that interest adequately compelling to warrant a mandatory closure rule. The decision created an anomalous condition of law: states can close trials to protect juvenile rapists but not to protect their victims. Chief Justice warren e. burger and Justice william h. rehnquist dissented.
Leonard W. Levy
(1986)