State Ex Rel. Oregonian Publishing Co. v. Sams

On July 27,1984, relators petitioned this court for an alternative writ of mandamus, alleging that defendant circuit judge had conducted a closed hearing in a judicial proceeding and specifically had excluded relator Joan Laatz, a reporter for the newspaper published by relator Oregonian Publishing Company, from attending that hearing. The petition alleged that defendant had done so pursuant to ORS 136.617, 1 and that this statute, to the extent that it provides for closed hearings, contravenes Or Const art I, § 10 and the federal first amendment. 2 The petition ended by requesting that an…