A request by Harvard law professor Charles Nesson and his student team for an expedited decision overturning the court's denial to broadcast the upcoming RIAA file-sharing trial against Joel Tenenbaum was denied.on Friday.
“I have circulated your request to my colleagues and received their responses,” wrote Chief Judge Mark Wolf in an e-mail to Nesson. “The District Court has decided not to take any action on the expedited basis that you request." It is unclear if the judges will rule later, but with the trial scheduled for April 30th, Nesson is now asking the court to reschedule. "It is in this hearing that Joel’s Constitutional claims will be considered, and it is only right that the public have a right ‘to see and to hear’ as per its own Constitutional right,” Nesson wrote to the court.
In January, Federal Judge Nancy Gertner approved a motion to permit the hearing to be streamed live over the internet. The music companies appealed, and the decision was overturned by the First Circuit earlier this month.
“The public opinion is overwhelmingly in favor of a public webcast of the trial even in spite of differing opinions on file-sharing,” the students on the self-named Joel Fights Back team said in a statement. "Between comments on blogs and a petition circulating, we are amazed at the support for this issue.”
“The public opinion is overwhelmingly in favor of a public webcast of the trial even in spite of differing opinions on file-sharing,” the students on the self-named Joel Fights Back team said in a statement. "Between comments on blogs and a petition circulating, we are amazed at the support for this issue.”
