e 1:20-cr-00330-PAE
REPORTERS
COMMITTEE
Document 362
Filed 10/20/21
Page 1 of 4
FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS October 20. 2021
2
1156 15th St. NW, Suite 1020
Washington, D.C. 20005
(202) 795-9300 * www.refp.org BY ECF
Bruce D. Brown, Executive Director
[email protected] + (202) 795-9301
STEERING COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN
STEPHEN J. ADLER
STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS
WOLF BLITZER
CNN
DAVID BOARDMAN
Temple University
THEODORE J. BOUTROUS, JR.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
MASSIMO CALABRESI
Time Magazine
MANNY GARCIA
Austin American-Statesman
EMILIO GARCIA-RUIZ
San Francisco Chronicle
JOSH GERSTEIN
POLITICO
ALEX GIBNEY
Jigsaw Productions
SUSAN GOLDBERG
National Geographic
JAMES GRIMALDI
The Wall Street Journal
LAURA HANDMAN
Davis Wright Tremaine
DIEGO IBARGUEN
Hearst
JEREMY JOJOLA
INEWS Colorado
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Associated Press
DAVID LAUTER
The Los Angeles Times
MARGARET LOW
WBUR
COLLEEN MCCAIN NELSON
The McClatchy Company
MAGGIE MULVIHILL
Boston University
JAMES NEFF
The Philadelphia Inquirer
NORMAN PEARLSTINE
New York, New York
THOMAS C. RUBIN
Stanford Law School
BRUCE W. SANFORD
BakerHostetler, ret.
CHARLIE SAVAGE
The New York Times
JENNIFER SONDAG
Bloomberg News
NABIHA SYED
The Markup
ADAM SYMSON
The E.W. Scripps Company
PIERRE THOMAS
ABC News
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The New York Times
VICKIE WALTON-JAMES
NPR
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PBS/The NewsHour
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J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE, Associated Press
CHIP BOK, Creators Syndicate
DAHLIA LITHWICK, Slate
TONY MAURO, American Lawyer Media, ret
JANE MAYER, The New Yorker
ANDREA MITCHELL, NBC News
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Affiliations appear only
for purposes of identification.
The Honorable Alison J. Nathan
United States District Court
Southern District of New York
United States Courthouse
AO Foley Square
New York, New York 10007
Re: United States v. Ghislaine Maxwell, 20 Cr. 330 (AJN)
Dear Judge Nathan,
With the government’s consent, the defendant has requested to file the
parties’ joint proposed juror questionnaire and joint proposed voir dire under seal.
Letter of U.S. Att’y, October 12, 2021 (Dkt. No. 339) (“Letter”). The Reporters
Committee for Freedom of the Press and the 17 undersigned news media
organizations respectfully urge the Court to deny the defendant’s request. Globe
Newspaper Co. v. Superior Ct. for Norfolk Cty., 457 U.S. 596, 609 n.25 (1982)
(stating that “representatives of the press and general public must be given an
opportunity to be heard on the question of their exclusion” (cleaned up)).!
Both the common law and the First Amendment afford the public a qualified
right of access to criminal proceedings. Indeed, the Supreme Court has long
recognized that public access to criminal proceedings assures both the fairness and
legitimacy of the criminal justice system. /d. at 606 (“Public scrutiny of a criminal
trial enhances the quality and safeguards the integrity of the factfinding process,
! The defendant also has requested that the Court order “individual sequestered juror voir dire and
limited counsel-conducted voir dire.” ECF No. 341. The government opposes both requests.
ECF No. 355. To the extent that the defendant seeks to limit press and public access to any aspect
of voir dire in this case, the same constitutional and common law presumptions of public access
discussed herein apply.
DOJ-OGR-00005269