I disagree with the minority
(That headline sorta reminds you of "I agree with Clarence," don't it?)
Ban on Printing Information on Kobe Bryant Accuser Is Upheld
By KIRK JOHNSON
Colorado's highest court ruled yesterday that the judge in the rape trial of the basketball star Kobe Bryant was justified in barring the news media from publishing court documents detailing the sex life of Mr. Bryant's accuser even though the trial court itself had accidentally released the information to the public.
But the State Supreme Court panel, ruling 4 to 3, was deeply divided, reflecting the issues at the center of the pretrial hearings in the case: how much protection does Colorado's rape victim law afford Mr. Bryant's accuser? And can the legal system in the Internet age even provide those protections in a case where the news media's coverage - and the resulting opportunities for lawyers to make their case in public - has been so pervasive?
The appellate panel's narrow majority said that the obligations to protect were ironclad and irrevocable and that so-called prior restraint on publication and its resulting abridgement of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution was justified by the damage that could be done to the woman if the material were published or broadcast.
The minority, in sometimes blistering language, said the court and the state had already failed in their duty to protect the woman and that barring publication now would make little difference.
"Prior restraints are not meant to mitigate harms that have already occurred," the dissenting judges said. The trial court, they continued, cannot "require the media to do what the state failed to - give the alleged victim the protections afforded by the statute."
See, here's the thing: once one of these protections is breeched, shoring it up legally is the right thing to do. Not doing so before now is not a failing of the court because it all exploded too fast for the legal system to react to; how long did it take for a picture of the girl to start circulating on the net? THAT may be the flaw, if there even is one.
