{"id":2267965,"date":"2024-06-14T14:34:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-14T18:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/journalist-says-first-amendment-in-jeopardy-as-he-faces-punishment-over-reporting-on-covenant-shooter\/"},"modified":"2024-06-14T14:38:37","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T18:38:37","slug":"journalist-says-first-amendment-in-jeopardy-as-he-faces-punishment-over-reporting-on-covenant-shooter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/journalist-says-first-amendment-in-jeopardy-as-he-faces-punishment-over-reporting-on-covenant-shooter\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalist Warns of First Amendment Threat Amid Punishment for Reporting on Covenant Shooter"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjournalist-says-first-amendment-in-jeopardy-as-he-faces-punishment-over-reporting-on-covenant-shooter%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2267965&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A Tennessee news executive, Michael Patrick Leahy, editor-in-chief of the Tennessee Star, claims his First Amendment and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/group-our-vote-matters-is-suing-facebook-dominion-mark-zuckerberg-certain-state-officials-others-for-infringing-upon-right-to-vote-assemble-and-speak-freely-you-can-jo\/\" title=\"Group \u201cOur Vote Matters\u201d Is Suing Facebook, Dominion, Mark Zuckerberg, Certain State Officials, Others for Infringing Upon Right to Vote, Assemble and Speak Freely \u2013 You Can Join Too\">due process rights<\/a>\u2064 are threatened\u200d as \u200bhe faces a court hearing for contempt. This follows his publication of articles citing the\u2064 journal of a\u2063 transgender shooter responsible for the deaths of\u2063 six individuals at Nashville&#8217;s Christian Covenant School in \u200bMarch \u20642023. The \u200bcourt has ordered Leahy to justify\u200c why \u200chis publication does \u2063not violate court orders, \u200dleading to\u200d possible contempt proceedings and sanctions. Leahy&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-arrives-in-court-in-new-york-fraud-trial\/\" title=\"Trump appears in NY court for fraud trial.\">legal team \u2062argues<\/a> that the court order infringes on press freedoms guaranteed under Tennessee&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kamala-harriss-relentless-prosecution-of-pro-life-journalist-lives-on-7-years-later\/\" title=\"Kamala Harris\u2019s Relentless Prosecution Of Pro-Life Journalist Lives On 7 Years Later\">shield law<\/a>, which protects journalists from revealing sources \u2064and information gathered for reporting. Despite their emergency appeal being denied, the reasons \u200dfor obtaining the \u200bshooter&#8217;s writings, disclosed by Leahy&#8217;s outlet, remain undisclosed, aligning \u2063with\u2062 journalistic practices of source\u200b protection. Additionally, reports indicate a retired Nashville police lieutenant might be \u200blinked to the leaks about the shooting investigation. This lieutenant has also filed a whistleblower complaint concerning departmental\u2062 mismanagement.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A Tennessee news executive says his First Amendment and due process rights are in jeopardy as he faces punishment over his publication of articles on the writings of the transgender-identifying shooter who killed six people at the Christian Covenant School in Nashville in March 2023. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tennessee Star Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy was <a href=\"https:\/\/fox17.com\/resources\/pdf\/bb104926-e6a1-4964-90ef-87a89ca72f0a-61024CHANCERYCOURTCOVENANTCASE.pdf.crdownload.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ordered<\/a> to show up in Davidson County court on Monday for a contempt hearing after his outlet <a href=\"https:\/\/tennesseestar.com\/covenant-school-shooting-investigation\/\">published multiple articles<\/a> quoting from the writings of the woman who killed three children and three adults at The Covenant School on March 27, 2023. The articles quoted from the writings of the shooter, disclosing that it had obtained images of the full journal that was recovered by police at the scene of the shooting. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In her order, Judge I\u2019Ashea Myles said that Leahy must demonstrate why the \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">publication of certain purported documents\u201d does not \u201cviolate the Orders of this Court subjecting them to contempt proceedings and sanctions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">On Wednesday, Leahy\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-legal-team-files-appeal-after-obama-judge-dismisses-lawsuit-seeking-to-block-pennsylvania-from-certifying-its-results\/\" title=\"Trump Legal Team Files Appeal After Obama Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Seeking to Block Pennsylvania From Certifying Its Results\">legal team filed<\/a> an emergency appeal in response arguing that Myles\u2019 order endangers freedom of the press and violates his right to due process. The appeal, which has since <a href=\"https:\/\/tennesseestar.com\/justice\/tennessee-judge-denies-motion-by-star-news-ceo-in-covenant-killer-writings-case-raises-possibility-of-prosecution-as-leahy-files-emergency-appeal\/tpappert\/2024\/06\/13\/\">been denied<\/a>, argued that the hearing should be set aside because it violates Tennessee laws protecting reporters and rules on contempt proceedings. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cTennessee has enacted a robust media \u2018shield law\u2019 that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/amber-heard-tells-jurors-people-want-to-kill-my-baby-in-the-microwave\/\" title=\"Amber Heard Tells Jurors: \u201cPeople Want to Kill My Baby in the Microwave\u201d\">protects reporters<\/a> from being compelled to reveal any information\u2014or the source of any information\u2014procured for publication or broadcast,\u201d the court filing says. \u201cSuch compulsion would also seriously undermine freedom of the press and news gathering generally.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Tennessee Star has not disclosed the details of how it obtained the documents, which is standard practice in the journalism profession.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, Axios <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/nashville\/2024\/06\/14\/filing-singles-out-mnpd-whistleblower-in-covenant-records-leak\">reported<\/a> that a retired Nashville police lieutenant has been singled out regarding the leak of records regarding the shooting investigation. Those records have been kept hidden from the public for more than a year. The lieutenant, Garet Davidson, has filed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/nashville\/2024\/06\/03\/investigation-nashville-police-complaint\">whistleblower complaint<\/a> regarding mismanagement at the department, and has <a href=\"https:\/\/tennesseestar.com\/justice\/retired-mnpd-lt-garet-davidson-claims-fbi-told-nashville-police-not-to-release-documents-from-covenant-school-killer-audrey-elizabeth-hale-investigation-pointed-to-precedent-for-document-destruction\/tpappert\/2024\/06\/04\/\">appeared<\/a> on Leahy\u2019s Tennessee Star show in recent weeks.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Myles did not specify in her order what specific court orders she was referring to that might lead to Leahy and Star Digital Media being held in contempt. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cBy failing to identify the previous orders \u2014 or the provisions within them \u2014 \u00a0that this Court believes Mr. Leahy may have violated, though, this\u00a0 Court\u2019s Show Cause Order does not afford Mr. Leahy meaningful notice of the concerns that he is being ordered to address,\u201d Leahy\u2019s legal filing says. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If Myles\u2019 order did restrict Leahy \u201cfrom publishing lawfully obtained documents to his readership,\u201d that order is constitutionally suspect, the filing says. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cNone of this Court\u2019s earlier orders appears \u2014 at least to the undersigned \u2014 to contemplate such a drastic restriction,\u201d the filing says. \u201cIf this Court\u00a0 interprets one of its earlier orders that way, though, then the order is a\u00a0 prior restraint that suffers from serious constitutional infirmities and is\u00a0 presumptively unconstitutional.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>For well over a year, Nashville police have refused to release the writings of the shooter arguing that the investigation into the shooting is ongoing. In response, there are two ongoing lawsuits, one against the FBI and the other against the city, pushing for the release of all the shooter\u2019s writings.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, The Daily Wire <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/covenant-journal-revealed-my-imaginary-penis?topStoryPosition=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">published<\/a> photos of the attacker\u2019s journal obtained by\u00a0a source familiar with the Covenant investigation. The entries show that she had a deep-seated hatred for Christianity and her parents for pushing back against her desire to identify as a male.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tennessee Star Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy claims his First Amendment and due process rights are threatened after publishing articles about a transgender shooter who killed six at Nashville&#8217;s Christian Covenant School in March 2023. Leahy faces potential punishment and was ordered to appear in court<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":2267966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-1249665430.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2267965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-1249665430.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2267965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2267965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2267965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2267966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2267965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2267965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2267965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}