Oddly enough, Judge Peter Lauriat co-authored the Massachusetts Right-to-Know Handbook, in 1984 appropriately enough. He is a Harvard Graduate. Why he turned on the Right-to-Know is anyone's guess, but the Citizen Media Law Project is a part of Harvard. It is good to know that they will be following this case regardless of these facts because the law is the law, and nothing else matters.
Charles Spurlock presided over some of the case involving defrocked Priest Paul Shanley, in which he proscribed publication of his victims names. The Boston Herald was not pleased.
Attorney Elizabeth A. Ritvo, who represents the Herald, called prior restraint of the press "the biggest harm to the Constitution, from the First Amendment perspective."
In point of fact, Judge Stephen Neel vacated a portion of Spurlock's order instructing the media to retract the already-published names as soon as possible.
At least the Massachusetts Rape Shield Law arguably provided some arguable reason for the Prior Restraint in Shanley.
What does NOT make any sense is the suspended jail sentence for Frank Genevieve, the Priest who raped 3 young boys.
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