Judge bars Iowa newspaper from publishing info from court records

An Iowa Supreme Court justice has barred the Des Moines Register from publishing information obtained in court records, the newspaper reported Friday.

The Register said it obtained copies of the court records before they had been sealed. The newspaper has objected to the justice’s order, arguing that it amounts to an unlawful prior restraint – an action barring speech before it takes place.

The Supreme Court has never upheld an action of prior restraint against the news media, an attorney for the Register noted, though it has suggested narrow national security exceptions may apply. 

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The court documents contain information regarding Jaysen McCleary, a lawyer licensed in Iowa and now living in Montana, who has asked judges in recent months to seal court records from cases in which he was either the attorney or a plaintiff.

McCleary has sued the Register and one of its reporters to stop the publication of a story about him, the newspaper reported.

“Pending further order from this court, the defendants shall not disclose or share, other than with legal counsel, any information in the defendants’ possession that was obtained exclusively from the reports,” the order from Iowa Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins reads.

A lawyer for the Register has requested that the Iowa Supreme Court vacate Wiggins’ order.

Earlier this month, Polk County District Judge Jeffery Farrell said that the Register nor the reporter were bound by court orders barring the court records’ disclosure, because they had obtained the documents at a time when they were accessible to the public.