Heather Murray

Local Journalism Project Managing Attorney and Associate Director, First Amendment Clinic, Cornell Law School

Heather Murray is the associate director of the Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic and the managing attorney of the Clinic’s Local Journalism Project.

Murray says:

“The order issued in this case is blatantly unconstitutional. Requiring the press to take down an editorial criticizing Clarksdale officials for failing to properly notify the public about a hearing on proposed tax increases is a classic example of an unconstitutional prior restraint. 

“Prior restraints on the media of this sort have long been disfavored nearly to the point of extinction and for good reason. The order improperly prohibits speech before there has been a final adjudication that the speech is not constitutionally protected, or indeed that the city of Clarksdale is entitled to any remedy at all.

“What is even worse about this ruling is that the libel claim on its face appears to have no merit. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that government entities like the city of Clarksdale cannot successfully bring libel claims, and, even if they could, the Clarksdale city clerk already admitted in an affidavit that she failed to notify the media as required about the hearing.”