| Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn | ||||||
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Supreme Court of the United States |
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| Argued November 11, 1974 Decided March 3, 1975 |
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| Full case name | Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn | |||||
| Docket nos. | 73-938 | |||||
| Citations | 420 U.S. 469 (more) 95 S. Ct. 1029, 43 L. Ed. 2d 328 |
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| Holding | ||||||
| The identity of a rape victim, if obtained by proper means, and the commission of a crime and facts surrounding the prosecution of that crime are matters of public concern and are protected by the First Amendment freedom of the press. | ||||||
| Court membership | ||||||
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| Case opinions | ||||||
| Majority | White, joined by Burger, Brennan, Stewart, Marshall, Blackmun | |||||
| Concurrence | Douglas | |||||
| Concurrence | Powell | |||||
| Dissent | Rehnquist | |||||
| Laws applied | ||||||
| First Amendment of the United States Constitution | ||||||
Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U.S. 469 (1975)[1] was a United States Supreme Court case involving freedom of the press. The case determined that a Georgia law prohibiting the release of a rape victim's name was unconstitutional. The case was argued on November 11, 1974 and decided on March 3, 1975.
Contents |
In 1971, Cynthia Leslie Cohn, a 17 year-old Potter Stewart High School student, was sexually assaulted and murdered in Sandy Springs, Georgia. Due to the graphic nature of the crime, the media immediately jumped on the story and began following the proceedings. Thomas Wassell, a reporter for WSB-TV, approached the clerk in open court during the court proceedings in 1972 and asked for a copy of the indictment documents, which contained the name of the victim. He obtained the name and broadcast it later that night. Martin Cohn, the father of Leslie, brought a suit against WSB for breaking a law in Georgia that prohibits the broadcasting or printing of the name of a rape victim. Cohn pushed for criminal proceedings and sued for damages for invasion of privacy and infliction of emotional distress.
Did the Georgia law violate the freedom of the press as protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments?
Although the trial court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, the Appellate and Supreme Courts ruled in favor of the defendant, stating that the law prohibited the freedom of the press in airing a name they obtained legally.
The U.S. Supreme Court held that the law violated the Constitution. They held that the right to privacy, although important, does not take precedence over freedom of speech if the media outlet broadcasts or prints information that it legally obtains through no means of deceit or foul play. Also, when something is of public record, the actual privacy of the matter fades in significance because it has already been made a part of public record and is therefore already on the books, though many media outlets still try and minimize the use of the names of victims of crimes, such as rape, in their broadcasts and newscasts.
Affirmed- The U.S. Supreme Court voted 8-1 in favor of Cox Broadcasting, affirming the decision of the Appellate Court, and reversing the decision of the Trial Court.