Cohen v. Cowles Media Co.

Cohen v. Cowles Media Co.
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued March 27, 1991 Decided June 24, 1991
Full case name	Dan Cohen v. Cowles Media Company, dba Minneapolis Star & Tribune Company, et al.
Citations	501 U.S. 663 (more) 111 S. Ct. 2513; 115 L. Ed. 2d 586; 1991 U.S. LEXIS 3639; 59 U.S.L.W. 4773; 18 Media L. Rep. 2273; 91 Cal. Daily Op. Service 4796; 91 Daily Journal DAR 7417
Prior history	Certiorari to the Supreme Court of Minnesota
Holding
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices Byron White · Thurgood Marshall Harry Blackmun · John P. Stevens Sandra Day O'Connor · Antonin Scalia Anthony Kennedy · David Souter
Case opinions
Majority	White, joined by Rehnquist, Stevens, Scalia, Kennedy
Dissent	Blackmun, joined by Marshall, Souter
Dissent	Souter, joined by Marshall, Blackmun, O'Connor

Cohen v. Cowles Media Co., 501 U.S. 663 (1991)^[1], was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that freedom of the press does not exempt journalists from generally applicable laws.

Dan Cohen, a Republican associated with Wheelock Whitney's 1982 Minnesota gubernatorial run, provided inculpatory information on the Democratic challenger for Lieutenant Governor, Marlene Johnson, to the Minneapolis Star Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press in exchange for a promise that his identity as the source would not be published. Over the reporters' objections, both editors from the two newspapers independently decided to publish his name. He consequently lost his job at an advertising agency. He sued Cowles Media Company, who owned the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

In 1988, a jury of six found in Cohen's favor. The Minnesota Supreme Court reversed. The United States Supreme Court remanded the case to the Minnesota Supreme Court, which reinstated the jury's original verdict of $200,000.

The Cowles Media Company was found to have committed a breach of contract called promissory estoppel.

See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 501
• List of United States Supreme Court cases
• Lists of United States Supreme Court cases by volume
• List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Rehnquist Court
• Promissory estoppel

The Cowles Media Company was found to have committed a breach of contract based upon a legal doctrine called promissory estoppel.

Further reading

• Rothenberg, Elliot C. (1999). The Taming of the Press: Cohen v. Cowles Media Company. Westport, CT: Praeger. ISBN 0275966011. 

References

1. ^ 501 U.S. 663 (1991), full text of the opinion courtesy of Findlaw.com.