The Clinic and co-counsel Greenberg Traurig, LLP filed suit in December 2023 against Delaware County, members of its Board of Supervisors, and its County Attorney on behalf of news outlet The Reporter in the Northern District of New York.

The Complaint alleges that County officials violated the news outlet’s rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution when the Board of Supervisors revoked The Reporter’s designation as an official county paper in retaliation for its coverage. The designation as an “official” county paper provides a news outlet with important advertising revenue from governmentally-funded legal notices.

The Complaint also alleges that the constitutional rights of The Reporter were violated when the County Attorney issued a “gag directive” prohibiting employees from freely communicating with The Reporter’s staff.

Until its de-designation as an official County newspaper in March 2022, The Reporter had been publishing the County’s public notices virtually since its founding in 1881. A year after the de-designation, County officials sent an unprecedented letter to the publisher of The Reporter, signed by 39 County officials, in which they demanded that the publisher of The Reporter “make immediate changes” to its coverage of the County.

Update: Last updated June 12, 2024

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