"As courts claim the power to silence, censor and punish dissident speech about their own courts, it’s good to remember that the Supreme Court itself acknowledged it could do no such thing. Congress itself revised contempt law to make clear courts hold no such power and impeached a judge for exceeding it.

"Gag orders and contempt use during pending cases “produce restrictive results at the precise time when public interest in the matters discussed would naturally be at its height” and thereby “fall not only at a crucial time but upon the most important topics of discussion.” Bridges v. California, 314 U.S. 252, 270 (1941). This why courts cannot ban or punish statements even if those statements have a “reasonable tendency to obstruct justice in a pending case.”

Robert Barnes