NEBRASKA PRESS ASSOC. v. STUART

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Case Basics
Docket No. 
75-817
Petitioner 
Nebraska Press Assoc.
Respondent 
Stuart
Decided By 
Burger Court (1975-1981)
Opinion 
427 U.S. 539 (1976)
Argued 
Monday, April 19, 1976
Decided 
Wednesday, June 30, 1976
Advocates
Harold Mosher
(Argued the cause for the respondent Stuart)
E. Barrett Prettyman, Jr
(Argued the cause for the petitioners)
Milton R. Larson
(Argued the cause for the State of Nebraska)
Floyd Abrams
(Argued the cause for the National Broadcasting Co. et al. as amici curiae urging reversal)
Tags
Term:
Location: District Court of Lincoln County
Facts of the Case 

A Nebraska state trial judge, presiding over a widely publicized murder trial, entered an order restraining members of the press from publishing or broadcasting accounts of confessions made by the accused to the police. The judge felt that this measure was necessary to guarantee a fair trial to the accused.

Question 

Did the judge's order violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments?

Conclusion 
Decision: 9 votes for Nebraska Press Assoc., 0 vote(s) against
Legal provision: Amendment 1: Speech, Press, and Assembly

Yes. The Court agreed with the trial judge that the murder case would generate "intense and pervasive pretrial publicity." However, the unanimous court held that the practical problems associated with implementing a prior restraint on the press in this case would not have served the accused's rights. Chief Justice Burger reasoned that"a whole community cannot be restrained from discussing a subject intimately affecting life within it."

Cite this Page
NEBRASKA PRESS ASSOC. v. STUART. The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. 12 February 2012. <http://www.oyez.org/cases/1970-1979/1975/1975_75_817>.
NEBRASKA PRESS ASSOC. v. STUART, The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, http://www.oyez.org/cases/1970-1979/1975/1975_75_817 (last visited February 12, 2012).
"NEBRASKA PRESS ASSOC. v. STUART," The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, accessed February 12, 2012, http://www.oyez.org/cases/1970-1979/1975/1975_75_817.