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Public Access To Civil Court Records: A Common Law Approach, Ronald D. May

Vanderbilt Law Review

Courts have long recognized a general common law right of access to courtroom proceedings' and court records. Recently, however, courts have begun to consider whether the first amendment of the Constitution protects this right of access. In 1980 the United States Supreme Court in Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia held that the press and the public have a first amendment right to attend criminal trials. The Supreme Court found this right implicit in the various clauses of the first amendment. Although the Supreme Court has taken few opportunities since Richmond Newspapers to define precisely the contours of the first amendment …