United States Second Circuit

In an appeal from a district court order granting an application by a newspaper to access sealed wiretap applications relating to the investigation of a prostitution ring, the order is reversed where: 1) petitioner did not show good cause to unseal the wiretap-related documents pursuant to Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968; and 2) petitioner did not have a First Amendment right to gain access to wiretap applications. (Amended opinion)

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/20/2009
• Published 08/20/2009

Judges

• JOSÉ A. CABRANES, Circuit Judge:, Before:  WINTER, CABRANES, and HALL Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Daniel L. Stein, Assistant United States Attorney (Lev L. Dassin, Acting United States Attorney, and Jesse M. Furman, Assistant United States Attorney, on the brief), Southern District of New York, New York, NY, for Appellant United States of America., Marc Falcone (Michele Hirshman and James L. Brochin, on the brief), Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, New York, NY, for Movant and Amicus Curiae Elliot Spitzer.


• For Appellees:
  
• David E. McCraw (Itai Maytal, on the brief), The New York Times Company, Legal Department, New York, NY, for Appellee the New York Times Company.