Iowa judge lifts order banning newspaper from publishing info from court records

An Iowa Supreme Court justice has lifted an order blocking The Des Moines Register from publishing information from court records.

Iowa Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins lifted the order on Tuesday, according to the paper.

“The stay was strictly temporary in nature, its duration limited to the time necessary for the filing of the defendants’ response, the plaintiff’s reply and this court’s entry of a ruling on the plaintiff’s combined applications,” Wiggins wrote.

{mosads}Wiggins put the original order in place on Saturday, which blocked the newspaper from publishing information it obtained from court records before the records were sealed.

The documents in question pertained to Iowa lawyer Jaysen McCleary, who had asked judges to seal documents where he was either an attorney or a plaintiff. McCleary also sued to stop the paper from publishing a story about him.

A lawyer for The Des Moines Register requested that Wiggins lift the ban, saying that constituted unlawful prior restraint and violated First Amendment rights.

McCleary has challenged Wiggins’s decision to lift the ban, according to the newspaper, seeking a “three-judge” review and saying that he will also attempt to bring the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.