New Jersey newspaper asks appeals court to overturn judge's gag order on school lockdown reporting

New Brunswick Today and its counsel, C.J. Griffin and Bruce S. Rosen, have asked the New Jersey Superior Court’s appellate division to set aside a July 9 injunction that restricts the outlet’s coverage of a May 8 lockdown at New Brunswick High School. Judge Thomas D. McCloskey issued the order in response to a suit by the New Brunswick Board of Education, which objected to the paper’s release of surveillance video showing a 16-year-old with an airsoft pistol, arguing the footage violated student privacy laws.

The original ruling barred the identification of the teenager and required any video to be blurred and approved by the board, effectively extending the gag to all press. Although a later amendment permitted posting of edited footage, it still gave the board authority to veto publication, a measure the attorneys contend is an unlawful prior restraint. Their brief references landmark decisions such as the Pentagon Papers case, emphasizing that courts have never upheld such censorship absent a compelling state interest of the highest order. The appeal seeks a swift reversal, arguing the injunction caused irreparable harm to press freedom.