John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy, Inc. v. Evers

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
First Amendment
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 20-1814
Decision Date: 
April 9, 2021
Federal District: 
W.D. Wisc.
Holding: 
Affirmed

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant-Governor's motion for summary judgment in section 1983 action, alleging that defendant violated their First Amendment rights by denying them access to invitation-only press briefing held by Governor's office. Governor's office denied plaintiffs' access based on fact that plaintiffs' organization was not primarily news organization, and that plaintiffs' practices ran afoul of neutral factors contained in criteria established by Governor's office. Because plaintiffs wanted access to non-public forum, defendant's decision to limit access needs only to be reasonable, and criteria established by Governor's office are reasonably related to viewpoint-neutral goal of increasing journalistic impact of Governor's messages by inviting only media who had primary focus in news dissemination and had some longevity in journalism business, as well as possessed ability to craft newsworthy stories. Instant criteria also prioritized access to media journalists, whose reporting would reach wider audiences and disfavored media that engaged in advocacy or lobbying. In instant case, plaintiffs failed to produce evidence to support their claim that generation of instant criteria was ideologically motivated by their conservative viewpoint. Ct. also observed that First Amendment does not guarantee press constitutional right of special access to information not available to public generally.