Jan 15, 2008 5:30 pm US/Pacific
Court Allows MSNBC To Bar Kucinich From Debate
LAS VEGAS (AP) ―
The Nevada Supreme Court said Tuesday MSNBC can exclude Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich from a candidate debate.
Lawyers for NBC Universal Inc., had asked the high court to overturn
a lower court order that the cable TV news network include the Ohio
congressman or pull the plug on broadcasting the debate Tuesday night
with Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards.
An hour before the debate, the state Supreme Court's unanimous order
said that blocking the debate unless Kucinich got to participate would
be "an unconstitutional prior restraint" on the news network's First
Amendment rights. The justices also said the lower court exceeded its
jurisdiction by ordering Kucinich's participation even though he first
requested and was denied relief from the Federal Communications
Commission.
"It's a matter of being on stage and answering questions. That's the
issue," lawyer Bill McGaha argued for Kucinich during a hearing before
four justices in Las Vegas. Three other justices participated by
closed-circuit video conference from Carson City.
Donald Campbell, a Las Vegas lawyer representing NBC Universal,
accused Kucinich of trying to make a jurisdictional "end run" around
the FCC and federal courts by suing in Nevada state court to be added
to the debate.
FCC broadcast rules do not apply to cable TV networks, Campbell
said, adding that forcing MSNBC to add Kucinich or not broadcast the
debate amounted to prior restraint and would be a "clear and
unequivocal" violation of First Amendment press freedom.
"Mr. Kucinich's claim ... undermines the wide journalistic freedoms
enjoyed by news organizations under the First Amendment," Campbell said
in his appeal.
Campbell said MSNBC decided to go with the top three candidates
after the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries. Kucinich drew less than 2
percent of the Democratic vote in the New Hampshire primary, after
attracting little support in the Iowa caucuses.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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