Law Commons^™

The Colonel's Finest Campaign: Robert R. Mccormick And Near V. Minnesota, Eric B. Easton

Eric B Easton

This paper documents the collaboration between The Chicago Tribune’s Robert McCormick and attorney Weymouth Kirkland to mobilize the press to carry Near v. Minnesota to the Supreme Court. In an earlier paper, I demonstrated how the press acts as “strategic litigator” to shape the legal environment in which reporters and editors practice their craft. The collaboration discussed in this article established the precedent for monitoring litigation that implicates First Amendment values and deciding whether, when, and how to intervene.