ABSTRACT
Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 US 665 (1972), combined three similar controversies that pitted state interests in the enforcement of criminal law against First Amendment protections extended to the press. In all three cases, reporters were summoned to testify in grand jury proceedings and to disclose information obtained while gathering information for stories. During the 1960s and 1970s, many considered the Black Panthers to be militant and viewed the party as a potential instigator of civil disturbance and rioting. Some chapters of the Black Panthers were suspected of targeting high-level political officials, including the president. In all three cases dealt with in Branzburg, state authorities believed the reporters possessed information that could assist in criminal investigation, thus forwarding the public interest. The Branzburg holding, with its articulated deference to the legislature, reflects the beginning of a shift from the decisions of the Court in the 1960s.
