News Site Loses Appeal to Access Tennessee Commission Meetings

An executive editor for a local government news site failed to convince a federal appeals court Tuesday to reopen access to state commission meetings that have been closed to the public since 2018.

Journalist Dan McCaleb isn’t entitled to the First Amendment’s right-of-access to criminal proceedings because the Tennessee Judicial Advisory Commission doesn’t engage in “adjudicatory proceedings,” the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said. The appellate court affirmed a dissolved injunction for the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts.

The district court initially granted a preliminary injunction for McCaleb that opened public access to the commission ...