Leno Silenced in Jackson Case, But Monologue Goes On

Originally, no one expected the Michael Jackson child molestation case to give rise to any civil liberty issues. It is a tawdry and boring trial, appealing mostly to America's fascination with the rich and famous rather than to its concern for the well being of a child or the privacy of a performer whose best work was 20 years ago (and even then, Prince was doing better stuff). Thanks to a judge's gag order, though, and the placement of Jay Leno on the witness list, there's now a First Amendment issue at stake. Who da thunk it?

As usual in legal cases, the judge doesn't want people involved talking about the case. In recent years, lawyers have thrown this out the window with their courthouse step interviews, and the Kensington Review will gladly back any judge who starts holding lawyers in contempt for this. And in grand jury cases, that goes double. Be that as it may, Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville issued an order preventing trial participants from talking about the case.

Now, while it is customary in US courts, it is also an abridgment of civil liberties. At the same time, there is another set of rights at stake, and that is the right of the parties in the trial to a fair proceeding. If discussion of the case by participants is going to result in undue influence (or even a perception of it), then the right to a fair trial must trump the right to free speech temporarily. The defendant and the accuser have much more at stake than the media or others. In Britain, the idea is taken even farther, and no case can be discussed in the media at all. The American compromise is a reasonable one.

However, Mr. Leno makes his living making jokes about current events as host of the "Tonight Show." He has also been subpoenaed to testify for reasons to tedious to mention. His lawyers are asking the judge to lift the order with regard to Mr. Leno, which may be decided by the time this posts to the Internet. However, until then, Mr. Leno's Michael Jackson jokes get delivered by surrogates during his monologue. Brad Garrett and Roseanne Barr have helped, and frankly, it's a very clever move that makes the judge's order look like a real joke -- too broad to be meaningful.

Soon, Court TV and "Hollywood Tonight" will reduce the trial to its component parts, mostly stupid, many inane, all of them insignificant. Yet, there is a serious matter here. Just how does one balance conflicting rights? This is more than the OJ trial ever did for political philosophy.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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