Media law cases

Campaign Finance

Wagner v.
FEC, 793 F.3d 1 (D.C.
Cir. 2015) (en banc) Three individuals who were personal services contractors with various federal government agencies sued over a federal law barring government contractors from making donations to political campaigns.
Judge Garland, writing for a unanimous en banc court, upheld the statute because of the important .

Court Access

*Opinions Written by Judge Garland In Re Leopold to Unseal Certain Electronic Surveillance Applications and Orders, 964 F.3d 1121 (D.C.
Cir. 2020) Applications for electronic surveillance authorities and certain associated documents are judicial records subject to the common law right of access, the court held, in an opinion authored by then-Chief .

Employees & Speech

Novato Healthcare Center v.
NLRB, 916 F.3d 1095 (D.C.
Cir. 2019) Then-Chief Judge Garland’s opinion for the court held that the National Labor Relations Act requires that First Amendment arguments must first be brought to the National Labor Relations Board before being heard in court.
Chief Judge Garland held that no exception exists to the statute.

FOIA

*Opinions Written by Judge Garland Aguiar v.
Drug Enf’t Admin., 865 F.3d 730 (D.C.
Cir. 2017) After he was convicted of drug offenses, plaintiff Stephen Aguiar filed a FOIA request seeking information pertaining to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s investigation of his activities.
Aguiar sought software the DEA had used to map his location, as .

Libel & Privacy

*Opinions Written by Judge Garland Messina v.
Krakower, 439 F.3d 755 (D.C.
Cir. 2006) In a libel suit between business partners and their attorneys over communications leading to a lawsuit over their business, Judge Garland held that the judicial proceedings privilege was broad because it “is intended to facilitate candid discussion, not to obscure.

Newsgathering

Boehner v.
McDermott, 484 F.3d 573 (D.C.
Cir. 2007) (en banc) Judge Garland joined a dissent written by Judge David Sentelle, finding that someone who lawfully obtained a recording could not be punished for publishing it, even if they should have known that the recording was unlawfully made.
The case involved a 1996 recording of a cell phone conver.

Public Forum

Initiative and Referendum Institute v.
U.S.
Postal Service, 417 F.3d 1299 (D.C.
Cir. 2005) Judge Garland ruled that a Postal Service regulation banning soliciting signatures on petitions, polls, or surveys on Postal Service property was not narrowly tailored to advance any content-neutral goal, did not leave open ample alternative channels of commu.

Reporter’S Privilege

In re: Grand Jury Subpoena, Judith Miller, 405 F.3d 17 (D.C.
Cir. 2005) Though Judge Garland was a judge on the D.C.
Circuit when the contempt case of New York Times reporter Judith Miller was on appeal, the docket and the decision denying en banc review note that he “did not participate” in the review decision, without further elaboration.
Lee v. .

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