The Hartford Courant triumphed Monday in its challenge to a Connecticut law sealing some juvenile court proceedings, including records in Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel’s murder case.
The 2nd U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said a 2019 Connecticut law that kept secret the identities of juveniles when their cases were transferred to adult court was written too broadly to be constitutional, and the First Amendment requires a presumption of disclosure in these instances unless it can be proven confidentiality is necessary.
The decision came in a lawsuit challenging the law filed by the newspaper and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
The three-judge appeals panel, in affirming a lower court judge’s decision last summer, said that wasn’t enough.
The state Supreme Court reinstated the murder conviction in 2016, but later reversed itself and overturned the conviction.