Bartnicki v. Vopper

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Bartnicki v. Vopper

Argued December 5, 2000
Decided May 21, 2001

Full case name:	Bartnicki et al. v. Vopper, aka Williams, et al.

Citations:	532 U.S. 514
Prior history:	Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

Subsequent history:	200 F. 3d 109, affirmed.

Holding

A broadcaster cannot be held civilly liable for publishing documents or tapes illegally procured by a third-party.

Court membership

Chief Justice: William Rehnquist
Associate Justices: John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer

Case opinions

Majority by: Stevens
Joined by: O'Connor, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer
Concurrence by: Breyer
Joined by: O'Connor
Dissent by: Rehnquist
Joined by: Scalia, Thomas

Bartnicki v. Vopper, 532 U.S. 514 (2001), is a United States Supreme Court case relieving a media defendant of liability for broadcasting a taped conversation of a labor official talking to other union people about a teachers' strike. The parties stipulated that the taped conversation had been illegally obtained by an intercept in violation of ECPA, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act but the Court held the radio station not liable because the radio station itself did nothing illegal to obtain the tape. The case stands for the rule that media defendants are not liable even if a third party violated the law. However with the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy and current emphasis on government secrecy, there are arguments to cabin this holding to the limited facts of this case.