Georgia Judge Bans Twitter From Courtroom

Nov 9th, 2009 | By Rex Gradeless | Category: Courtroom Technology, Featured, Lead Article, Social Media, Social Networking, Twitter, Web 2.0

As the following legal blogs have reported, a federal judge in Georgia has ruled that a reporter may not use Twitter to send updates about a court proceeding.

ABA Journal

The Volokh Conspiracy

The Legal Blog Watch

CBS News

CNet

Slow news day everyone?

In the court order, the judge rules that Tweeting from inside a courtroom violates the Federal Rules of Procedure. Citing the good old reliable Webster’s Third New International Dictionary from 1993 (long before Twitter was invented) the court ruled:

“Rule 53 states in relevant part: “[T]he court must not permit the taking of photographs in the courtroom during judicial proceedings or the broadcasting of judicial proceedings from the courtroom.” Fed. R. Crim. P. 53 (emphasis added). The Court finds that the term “broadcasting” in Rule 53 includes sending electronic messages from a courtroom that contemporaneously describe the trial proceedings and are instantaneously available for public viewing. Although “broadcasting” is typically associated with the dissemination of information via television or radio, its plain meaning is broader than that. The definition of “broadcast” includes “casting or scattering in all directions” and “the act of making widely known.” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (Unabridged) 280 (1993). It cannot be reasonably disputed that “twittering,” as previously described, would result in casting to the general public and thus making widely known the trial proceedings. Moreover, it appears clear that the drafters of Rule 53 intended to extend the Rule’s reach beyond the transmission of trial proceedings via television and radio.”

Apparently the reporter making the request will be barred form sending tweets to others outside the courtroom. This federal judge’s ruling is in direct contradiction to rulings made by a judge in Colorado who allowed a Kansas reporter to tweet.

There was also a Kansas federal judge who allowed a court reporter to use Twitter inside the courtroom. Now we have two different rulings on whether the Federal Rules preclude Twitter inside the courtroom. Interestingly, state courts often model their rules from federal courts and are probably just as confused as to whether there’s a place for reporters using Twitter inside the courtroom as the federal judges.

Whenever this finally gets decided, we can hopefully all agree on one thing -Tweeting on the witness stand would be an egregious and deliberate attempt to subvert our justice system.

To read the entire the court order click here.