From today's Ohio Supreme Court decision in State ex rel. Cincinnati Enquirer & Volokh v. Shanahan (written by Justice Stewart); congratulations to my excellent pro bono lawyer Jeffrey M. Nye on the victory:
In July 2020, a Cincinnati police officer using the pseudonym "M.R." filed a complaint for injunctive relief in the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas alleging that several people, whom he named as defendants, had publicly made the false claim that he is a white supremacist. Along with his complaint, M.R. filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and an affidavit in support of the motion. Respondent, Judge Megan E. Shanahan, allowed M.R. to proceed in the lawsuit using the pseudonym and partially sealed M.R.'s affidavit at his request…. The order stated:
The plaintiff, a police officer, is involved in the apprehension of very violent and dangerous criminals. The officer's job duties expose the officer to physical harm. To require that a document with identifying information be available to the public would further risk injury to the officer and others. In the current climate, with the uptick in violent acts being perpetrated against law enforcement both on-duty and off, active and retired, the Court finds there is a real and serious threat of physical harm. In the present case, one defendant has threatened, in writing, to publish the officer's personal identifying information and other information for the purpose of "doxing" the officer. The Court finds this to be a real and present threat.
Although Judge Shanahan did not expressly identify the evidence supporting her finding that M.R. had been threatened, she likely was referring to a social-media post that was attached as an exhibit to M.R.'s affidavit. The author of that post stated that he was thinking about publicizing M.R.'s name, address, and phone numbers but expressed concern about the legality of doing so. After exchanging messages with others, the poster ultimately stated that he would keep the information to himself, "[f]or now."
Judge Shanahan's second sealing order continued to allow M.R. to proceed pseudonymously but it modified the original order by making parts of M.R.'s affidavit available to the public. The partially redacted affidavit omitted all references to M.R.'s name and to the fact that M.R. has a wife and children. The exhibits to the affidavit remained sealed….
The court began by holding that the sealing of the affidavit was improper:
