Case Over Michigan Court’s No-Recording Rule Tossed for Standing

A suburban Detroit lawyer who says a county court’s ban on recording violates the First Amendment doesn’t have the legal ability to challenge the rule, a divided Sixth Circuit panel ruled.

Criminal defense and personal injury attorney Nicholas Somberg’s case against Oakland County, Mich. Prosecutor Karen D. McDonald “begins and ends with standing,” US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Judge Amul R. Thapar wrote. While an Eastern District of Michigan judge dismissed the case on its merits, Thapar and Senior Judge Alice M. Batchelder said Somberg didn’t prove McDonald was the cause of any possible injury and ...