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People of the State of New York v. Harvey Weinstein

The Clinic filed an amicus brief on January 9, 2024, on behalf of a media coalition supporting Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC’s efforts to unseal one of the most notable sex crime cases New York courts have adjudicated in recent memory. The media coalition argued that the Court Clerk’s interpretation of New York Civil Rights Law Section 50-b to seal the entirety of the Harvey Weinstein docket improperly disfavors the public interest by thwarting accountability reporting by the press and the ability of researchers to hold power to account. The decision not only thwarts this accountability reporting, but also, if followed by other courts, would threaten to shroud the adjudication of an entire category of criminal offenses in unwarranted secrecy. The media coalition also argued that the doctrine of constitutional avoidance requires that Section 50-b be interpreted more narrowly to avoid violating the First Amendment.