Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn

Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 11, 1974 Decided March 3, 1975
Full case name	Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn
Docket nos.	73-938
Citations	420 U.S. 469 (more) 95 S. Ct. 1029, 43 L. Ed. 2d 328
Holding
The identity of a rape victim, if obtained by proper means, and the commission of a crime and facts surrounding the prosecution of that crime are matters of public concern and are protected by the First Amendment freedom of the press.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William J. Brennan, Jr. · Potter Stewart Byron White · Thurgood Marshall Harry Blackmun · Lewis F. Powell, Jr. William Rehnquist · John P. Stevens
Case opinions
Majority	White, joined by Burger, Brennan, Stewart, Marshall, Blackmun
Concurrence	Douglas
Concurrence	Powell
Dissent	Rehnquist
Laws applied
First Amendment of the United States Constitution

Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U.S. 469 (1975)^[1] was a United States Supreme Court case involving freedom of the press. The case determined that a Georgia law prohibiting the release of a rape victim's name was unconstitutional. The case was argued on November 11, 1974 and decided on March 3, 1975.

Facts of the case

In 1971, Cynthia Leslie Cohn, a 17 year-old Potter Stewart High School student, was sexually assaulted and murdered in Sandy Springs, Georgia. Due to the graphic nature of the crime, the media immediately jumped on the story and began following the proceedings. Thomas Wassell, a reporter for WSB-TV, approached the clerk in open court during the court proceedings in 1972 and asked for a copy of the indictment documents, which contained the name of the victim. He obtained the name and broadcast it later that night. Martin Cohn, the father of Leslie, brought a suit against WSB for breaking a law in Georgia that prohibits the broadcasting or printing of the name of a rape victim. Cohn pushed for criminal proceedings and sued for damages for invasion of privacy and infliction of emotional distress.

Legal issue

Did the Georgia law violate the freedom of the press as protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments?

Decision of the Court

Although the trial court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, the Appellate and Supreme Courts ruled in favor of the defendant, stating that the law prohibited the freedom of the press in airing a name they obtained legally.

Reasoning of the Court

The U.S. Supreme Court held that the law violated the Constitution. They held that the right to privacy, although important, does not take precedence over freedom of speech if the media outlet broadcasts or prints information that it legally obtains through no means of deceit or foul play. Also, when something is of public record, the actual privacy of the matter fades in significance because it has already been made a part of public record and is therefore already on the books, though many media outlets still try and minimize the use of the names of victims of crimes, such as rape, in their broadcasts and newscasts.

Disposition

Affirmed- The U.S. Supreme Court voted 8-1 in favor of Cox Broadcasting, affirming the decision of the Appellate Court, and reversing the decision of the Trial Court.

See also

• Florida Star v. B. J. F., 491 U.S. 524 (1989)
• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 420

References

1. ^ 420 U.S. 469 (Text of the opinion on Findlaw.com.)