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HARRISBURG — Reporters and other courtroom observers must be allowed to issue dispatches on Twitter during the public-corruption trial of a former top Pennsylvania state legislative leader and three one-time aides, a judge ruled Monday.
An order by Dauphin County Judge Richard Lewis denying a defense motion said imposing such a ban is beyond his legal authority to limit reports on trial proceedings.
In addition, banning something that hasn’t yet happened would be an impermissible prior restraint on constitutionally protected speech, he said.
“This court finds that to impose the proposed restriction would be premature and that the restriction itself is overly broad,” Lewis wrote in a two-page order.
Judges in Pennsylvania have the legal authority to ban activities such as photography and communications by phone or “advanced communication technology” inside the courtroom, or just outside its exits.