A New York state appeals court has allowed the New York Times to publish copies of documents pertaining to Project Veritas, which the organization says are protected by attorney-client privilege.
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court issued a temporary stay Thursday that halted a previous order directing the news organization to turn over to destroy legal memos belonging to the conservative group, the New York Times reported. Certain documents are now allowed to be published by the outlet.
“We’re pleased with today’s decision to stop the enforcement of prior restraint while the case is being appealed, and we look forward to explaining our position in the appeal,” Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokeswoman for the outlet, told the Washington Examiner.
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“The use of prior restraint to prohibit news gathering and block the publication of newsworthy journalism is unconstitutional,” Ha said. “No libel plaintiffs should be permitted to use their litigation as a tool to silence press coverage about them.”
The temporary stay issued by the appeals court halts the enforcement of an order signed by Justice Charles Wood of the Supreme Court in Westchester County, New York, on Dec. 23, according to the appeals court. The order signed by Wood will not be enforced until a court hearing on an appeal is heard.
Wood’s order came under fire from A.G. Sulzberger, the publisher for the New York Times. “This ruling should raise alarms not just for advocates of press freedoms but for anyone concerned about the dangers of government overreach into what the public can and cannot know,” Sulzberger said in a statement at the time.
“We are pleased that the Appellate Division denied The Times’s overreaching request to vacate the order,” Elizabeth Locke, a lawyer for Project Veritas, said in a statement. Locke said that she felt “confident” that the appeals court would issue a decision finding “that The Times violated Veritas’s substantial rights by acquiring and publishing attorney-client privileged materials in the midst of ongoing litigation.”
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Project Veritas has been engaged in defamation litigation against the New York Times in Westchester County since last year.
Prior to Wood’s order in December, the New York Times was issued an extended ban preventing the outlet from publishing materials belonging to Project Veritas. The initial ban was issued on Nov. 18 and ran through Dec. 1.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Project Veritas for a statement but did not receive a response.
