Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn
United States Supreme Court
420 U.S. 469 (1975)
A television reporter for Cox Broadcasting (defendant) obtained the name of Cohn's (plaintiff) deceased daughter, a rape victim, from public judicial records associated with the criminal prosecution of her attackers, and broadcast a report naming her, even though Georgia law made it a misdemeanor to publish a rape victim's identity. Cohn sued for invasion of privacy based on the Georgia statute; the lower court ruled for Cohn, and Cox appealed.
Whether (1) the United States Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction over a state case in which the federal issues have been finally decided by state courts but state issues remain to be adjudicated, and (2), when balanced against First and Fourteenth Amendment press protections, a private plaintiff has a right to be free from unwanted publicity about private affairs which, though true and available in public judicial records, would be offensive to a person of ordinary sensibilities.