This case is part of on a ongoing string of litigation started in the mid-2000’s with Courthouse News Service filing suit against Michael D. Planet, Clerk of the Ventura County Superior, regarding various court records access issues.
In Round 3: Applying Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court (Press-Enterprise II), 478 U.S. 1, 106 S.Ct. 2735, 92 L.Ed.2d 1 (1986), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concluded the press has a qualified right of timely access to newly filed civil nonconfidential complaints that attaches when the complaint is filed. The Court also found this right does not entitle the press to immediate access to those complaints. Some reasonable restrictions resembling time, place, and manner regulations that result in incidental delays in access are constitutionally permitted where they are content-neutral, narrowly tailored and necessary to preserve the court’s important interest in the fair and orderly administration of justice.
COURTHOUSE NEWS SERVICE v. PLANET, 947 F.3d 581 (Ninth Circuit 2020) https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2020/01/17/16-55977.pdf