A.G. Sulzberger, the publisher of The Times, said in a statement last week that Justice Wood’s order “had no apparent precedent,” adding: “This ruling should raise alarms not just for advocates of press freedoms but for anyone concerned about the dangers of government overreach into what the public can and cannot know.”
The Appellate Division reviews decisions by New York trial court judges, but the state’s highest judicial body, the New York State Court of Appeals, could ultimately hear arguments in the case.
The order stemmed from a libel lawsuit that Project Veritas filed against The Times in 2020 that accused the newspaper of defamation.
Unrelated to the lawsuit, the Justice Department began investigating Project Veritas and its provocateur leader, James O’Keefe, for its possible role in the theft of a diary belonging to President Biden’s daughter, Ashley.
In its coverage of the investigation, The Times quoted memos prepared by a Project Veritas lawyer that predated the libel lawsuit and described strategies for ensuring that the group’s reporting tactics remained legal. (Project Veritas often engages in deceptive practices, including the use of fake identities and hidden cameras to embarrass liberals, the news media and others.)