Ok for court reporter to transcribe mayor’s speech at private-sector event?

Answer

It sounds like a private nonprofit is sponsoring a discussion with the mayor, and you want to know whether a court reporter can bring court reporting equipment to the meeting in order to accurately transcribe the mayor’s comments.

In general, private organizations — including nonprofits — are not subject to the strict First Amendment requirements that would govern a public agency’s conduct.  If this is, for all intents and purposes, a private event sponsored by a private organization, then it may be a court reporter could be excluded from the meeting, or at the very least, prohibited from transcribing comments.

However, there may be other circumstances that I am not aware of that suggest some sort of government sponsorship of this meeting that would require that a higher standard be met in order for transcription equipment to be excluded from the meeting.

Even then, however, it may be that so long as any restrictions placed on the meeting be “content neutral” — i.e., administered without regard for the content at issue (in this case, the memorialization of the mayor’s comments) — restrictions such as prohibiting any electronic recording devices may be permissible.

The inquiry is fairly fact specific, so it is difficult to give you a concrete answer in the abstract. That said, perhaps the solution to this issue is to request that the court reporter simply bring a pen and paper and transcribe the mayor’s comments using shorthand (assuming he or she knows shorthand) so as not to draw attention to the recording of the mayor’s comments.

Bryan Cave LLP is general counsel for the First Amendment Coalition and responds to First Amendment Coalition hotline inquiries. In responding to these inquiries, we can give general information regarding open government and speech issues but cannot provide specific legal advice or representation.