Appeals court sets arguments on Bradley Manning trial access
By JOSH GERSTEIN | 9/6/12 2:43 PM EDT
The military's highest appeals court has announced that it will hear oral arguments next month on a bid to allow the press and public direct access to records relating to the pending court martial of Pvt. Bradley Manning, the Army intelligence analyst accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and military reports to WikiLeaks.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces will hear the case on October 10, a court clerk said Thursday.
The appeal is styled as Center for Constitutional Rights v. United States of America and Col. Denise Lind. CCR, a civil liberties group, filed the case on behalf of journalists including WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange. On Tuesday, 32 media outlets and organizations, including POLITICO and its parent company, filed an amicus brief urging the appeals court to make public the briefs, motions, orders, and docket in the Manning court martial ...
http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2012/09/appeals-court-sets-arguments-on-bradley-manning-trial-134716.html
Military Appeals Court to Hear Argument Over Access to Bradley Manning Court Martial Records
By: Kevin Gosztola
Friday September 7, 2012 3:40 pm
... Scheduling of argument comes just days after thirty press outlets, including The Associated Press, Atlantic Media, Dow Jones, Gannett, Hearst, CNN, McClatchy, The New York Times, The New York Daily News, POLITICO, Reuters, the Tribune Co. and The Washington Post, signed on to a Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) brief in support of the lawsuit.
Lawyers Gregg Leslie and Kristen Rasmussen conclude in their brief:
…This case presents a stark example of the dangerous extent to which pervasive secrecy in military court proceedings under-cuts the appearance of fairness essential to public confidence in the system and fundamental to the proper administration of justice. But this Court has the opportunity to restore public faith in the nation’s military courts by applying the same reasoning underlying its holdings that the First Amendment protects a right of public access to courts-martial to recognize a corresponding right of access to the documents filed therein…
They argue the “right of access to court records springs from the recognition that open judicial proceedings provide accountability and oversight,” asserting such access to records is not just a “beneficial practice” to journalists but also something “constitutionally mandated.” It helps ensure proceedings are more accountable by protecting the accused’s right to a public trial ...
http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/09/07/military-appeals-court-to-hear-argument-over-access-to-bradley-manning-court-martial-records/
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