Newsday, Inc. V. Morgenthau Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, First Department February 17, 2004, Decided ; February 17, 2004, Entered 2868N
Neutral As of: June 13, 2013 4:34 PM EDT Newsday, Inc. v. Morgenthau Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, First Department February 17, 2004, Decided ; February 17, 2004, Entered 2868N Reporter: 4 A.D.3d 162; 771 N.Y.S.2d 639; 2004 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1651 The intervenor argued that the appeal was not properly before the appellate court. This argu- Matter of Newsday, Inc., Appellant. Robert D. ment was rejected. Since the warrant applica- Morgenthau, as District Attorney of New York tion process had historically not been open to the County, Intervenor-Respondent. public and public access would have hin- dered, rather than facilitated, the warrant pro- Subsequent History: [***1] cess and the government’s ability to conduct Appeal dismissed by Newsday, Inc. v. Morgen- criminal investigations, the appellate court thau, 3 N.Y.3d 651, 816 N.E.2d 561, 2004 ruled that the warrant records sought were not N.Y. LEXIS 1613, 782 N.Y.S.2d 689 (2004) subject to the qualified First Amendment right of access. Even if there were a qualified constitu- Prior History: Newsday, Inc. v. Morgenthau, tional right of access to warrant records, 2003 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 11333 (N.Y. App. Div. such a right would have been outweighed if 1st Dep’t, Oct. 28, 2003) there was substantial probability that disclosure would have compromised an ongoing investi- gation, a circumstance that justified denial of ac- Core Terms cess in this case. The interests advanced in op- public access, warrant application, access posing disclosure-the protection of the rights, significant consideration, criminal identity of a confidential informant and to investigation, ongoing investigation, avoid compromising an ongoing investigation- government’s ability, criminal proceeding, were substantial and were not outweighed by open to the public, general public, positive the generalized public interest in the warrant ap- role, disclosure, outweighed, hinder, media plication process.
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