MINNEAPOLIS (Legal Newsline) — A nationwide news service covering the courts claims Minnesota courts are violating its First Amendment rights by delaying access to civil litigation complaints.
Courthouse News Service filed a complaint July 24 in the U.S District Court for the District of Minnesota against Jeff Shorba, in his official capacity as Minnesota State Court Administrator, and others, alleging violation of the First Amendment and other claims.
According to its complaint, Courthouse News Service has more than 2,200 subscribers including law firms, government offices and news outlets such as the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Boston Globe and CNN. It claims that the Hennepin County District Court withheld nearly half of new civil complaints for one to three days and sometimes longer, which has interfered with its ability to report on general civil litigation.
Courthouse News further claims its right of access through the First Amendment applies to the non-confidential civil complaints it seeks and the delay in access to those court documents infringes on its constitutional rights.
It alleges the e-filing courts must conduct "some administrative processing" of new complaints but that the defendants are withholding the new complaints from the press and public until after processing is complete, which violates the First Amendment.
Courthouse News seeks monetary relief, interest and all other just relief. /They are represented by SEth Levanthal in Edina and Herbert Giorgio, Jr., Andrea Butler and Aaron Yuratovich of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP in St. Louis.
U.S District Court for the District of Minnesota case number 0:23-CV-02198-DWF-DJF