Houchins v. KQED, Inc.

Mr. Justice Stevens,

with whom Mr. Justice, Brennan and Mr. Justice Powell join, dissenting.

The Court holds that the scope of press access to the Santa Rita jail required by the preliminary injunction issued against petitioner is inconsistent with the holding in Pell v. Procunier, 417 U. S. 817, 834, that “newsmen have no constitutional right of access to prisons or their inmates beyond that afforded the general public” and therefore the injunction was an abuse of the District Court’s discretion. I respectfully disagree.

Respondent KQED, Inc., has televised a number of programs about prison…