Jeffrey Nye Profile picture
May 3, 2021 17 tweets 8 min read Read on X
It has been a busy few days for us in the Ohio Supreme Court. There are currently FOUR cases pending there relating to “M.R.,” the Cincinnati police officer who has sued citizens for criticizing his on-duty conduct. Background here: cincinnati.com/story/news/202…
In separate orders last July, the Hamilton County Common Pleas judge hearing his case first permitted the officer to proceed under his “M.R.” pseudonym (and to file evidence under seal), and then barred the defendants (incl. @winemedineme) from identifying him.
I have been representing Prof. Eugene Volokh (@VolokhC) in a bid to obtain writs of mandamus and prohibition to restore public access to those court records, including the officer’s name. @jackcgreiner has been representing @Enquirer in a separate but similar case.
Last week, the Court denied the judge’s motions to dismiss both cases, consolidated them, and issued an alternative writ (which is just a fancy way to say that it set a briefing schedule for the merits). Briefs will be filed in the next ~2 months.
Today, the appellants filed their brief in support of their argument that prior restraints (as the order preventing them from naming M.R. surely is) must have immediate appellate review. Their brief (by @erik_laursen and @Gatorjenni) is available here: supremecourt.ohio.gov/pdf_viewer/pdf…
I am happy to support the appellants by filing this amicus brief on behalf of Prof. Volokh, @andy_geronimo, @paythewriter, @spj_tweets, @newsguild, the publisher of @ClevelandScene and @CityBeatCincy, @WGAEast, @InstFreeSpeech, and 7 others: supremecourt.ohio.gov/pdf_viewer/pdf…
Also supporting the appellants are @ohio_media, the Ohio Coalition for Open Government, and the Ohio Association of Broadcasters. This brief, filed by the inimitable @tom_haren, is really fantastic: supremecourt.ohio.gov/pdf_viewer/pdf…
In addition to the mandamus and prohibition cases mentioned above, I also represent Prof. Volokh in a separate appeal from the dismissal of an earlier mandamus/prohibition case, in which we filed this merits brief about three weeks ago: supremecourt.ohio.gov/pdf_viewer/pdf…
Finally, do you think it's unjust that the case has proceeded even this far? So do I. To combat cases like these, nearly 8 years ago @tom_haren and I began advocating for a new anti-SLAPP law in Ohio.
It’s been introduced several times (here, e.g., legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/le…), and looked like we were on track for progress when COVID hit.

Hasn’t been reintroduced yet 2021, but if you live in Ohio, call your legislators and ask them to support the Ohio Citizens Participation Act.
We’ll never be able to completely stop censorious litigation, but with enough support for this bill we can discourage most of them from being filed, bring them to a quick end when they *are* filed, and limit their impact on victims--which are both the defendants and the public.
I will update on the cases (and the bill) as warranted. In the meantime, back to my very amateurish bird photography!
A brief update on the "M.R." mandamus/prohibition cases that I tweeted about last week
In response to the Court's order to file evidence, the respondent judge subpoenaed two @Enquirer reporters to appear and testify about their reporting on M.R.'s identity.
I thought that was pretty alarming. A sitting judge attempting to depose newspaper reporters about their sources and reporting process for articles about a case that is pending before that judge?

Yikes.
The @Enquirer moved for a protective order and the reporters moved to quash the subpoenas yesterday afternoon, and I am pleased to say that the Court has already granted those motions.
The order (without opinion) was issued at 8:35 pm today. It's here supremecourt.ohio.gov/pdf_viewer/pdf….

If you're interested, you can read the subpoenas, the motions to quash/for protective order, and the judge's response (and indeed all case filings) here sc.ohio.gov/Clerk/ecms/#/c…

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More from @jeffreynye

Aug 5, 2021
Hello friends. It’s time for another update on the litigation surrounding “M.R.,” the Cincinnati police officer who has sued people who criticized his on-duty conduct, and so far has been allowed by a local judge to do it in secret (by using a pseudonym and non-public evidence).
There are four active cases in the Ohio Supreme Court arising out of M.R.’s litigation. I last tweeted about them in May, first when I filed an amicus brief in support of the defendants’ efforts to vacate a prior restraint against them…
…and then when the judge presiding over M.R.’s case attempted to depose reporters about their sources and reporting process for articles about that case pending before her.
Read 15 tweets
Oct 26, 2020
Time for another update on the case where a Cincinnnati Police officer pseudonymously sued several citizens for criticizing his on-duty conduct. There have been new filings, though no new decisions, in two courts.
At last update, I told you that the common pleas judge had partially unsealed his affidavit, but had allowed him to continue to use a pseudonym
I also linked to jurisdictional briefing in the Ohio Supreme Court, including our amicus brief
Read 11 tweets

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