Mike sued County of Lancaster and the Office of Open Records in federal court. His seeks a final declaration that the County’s censorship violates free speech, due process, and equal protection provisions in the U.S. and Pennsylvania Constitutions. Mike will ask the court to declare the following:
- Do the County’s actions to restrain Mike from publication violate the free speech/press guarantees in the U.S. and State Constitutions?
- Should the County commissioners be stopped from imposing restraints on publication?
- Does the State’s Right to Know Law violate the Constitution?
- Should the State be restrained from imposing its Right to Know Law.
“In determining the extent of the constitutional protection, it has been generally, if not universally, considered that it is the chief purpose of the guaranty to prevent previous restraints upon publication. The struggle in England, directed against the legislative power of the licenser, resulted in renunciation of the censorship of the press.”
— U.S. Supreme Court in Near v. Minnesota ex rel. Olson (1931).
