New Mexico Supreme Court strikes down judge's gag order

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Supreme Court overturned a judge's order barring a newspaper reporter and other people attending an open trial in a high-profile business lawsuit from disclosing information the judge deemed confidential. The Albuquerque Journal and the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government brought the issue to the state Supreme Court on Wednesday after Judge Alan Malott warned the audience at the start of a trial in April that he would jail those who leaked court discussion of financial information involving the Abruzzo family-owned Alvarado Realty. The newspaper's attorneys argued the Albuquerque judge's order was an unconstitutional prior restraint while a lawyer with the state attorney general's office maintained that there were serious privacy concerns in the Abruzzo case. The Supreme Court panel struck down the order after brief deliberation.