New York Times Does Not Seek Emergency Interim Stay of Court’s Order Prohibiting Publication of Project Veritas’ Attorney-Client Memos

[NEW YORK – Dec. 31, 2021] On Christmas Eve, the New York State Supreme Court entered an order prohibiting the “Paper of Record” from publishing Project Veritas’ private attorney-client communications The New York Times had improperly obtained and published, and further requiring The Times to return those communications to Project Veritas, destroy any copies in its possession, and to use its best efforts to retrieve the copies it provided to others.

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Last night, The Times asked the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division for an emergency interim stay of many provisions of that decision while the court considers its request for more permanent relief.  

Notably, despite claiming the Supreme Court’s decision was an unconstitutional prior restraint—its Editorial Board hyperbolically declaring the order “dangerous” and one that could lead to “subvert[ing] the values embodied by the First Amendment and hobbl[ing] the functioning of the free press on which a self-governing republic depends”—The Grey Lady did not ask the Appellate Division for an emergency interim stay of the part of the order prohibiting it from publishing Project Veritas’ attorney-client communications.  

Instead, The Times asked the Appellate Division to leave intact that provision in the Supreme Court’s decision, allowing it to stand while the Appellate Division considers The Times’ arguments.   

The New York Times has used its massive public relations capabilities to create the false narrative that not being allowed to publish Project Veritas’ privileged attorney-client documents was a violation of the First Amendment. Yet, when The Times had the ability to fight this in court on an emergency basis, it abstained from seeking that emergency relief. 

Like The New York Times, Project Veritas believes that the First Amendment gives the press robust freedom to gather news, to speak and to publish—and to hold those in power accountable for their actions. 

Unlike The New York Times, Project Veritas believes that the effective and efficient administration of the American judiciary is fundamental to our great country. 

Without a proper functioning court system—and the rules of procedure and evidence, rules of ethics for counsel appearing before it, and the sanctity of the attorney-client privilege for litigants that are fundamental to it—American democracy crumbles and the First Amendment with it.