What's Happening With the Impending 2257 Decision? (AVN)

Read the full article by Mark Kernes at AVN.com

PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—As AVN reported on July 11, after failing to come to a consensus between them, both J. Michael Murray, attorney for Free Speech Coalition and nearly a dozen other plaintiffs in the long-running 2257 case, and attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice each submitted its own proposed "Final Judgment" in the case to U.S. District Judge Michael M. Baylson, as he had previously requested. But what happened after those submissions were filed has involved a little bit of a mystery.

Normally, all official activity in a federal lawsuit is recorded in summary form in a legal document known as a "docket," and those with access to the website Public Access to Court Electronic Records, better known as PACER, can read that docket to see what the most recent filings, rulings, etc. in that case have been, and can often download .pdfs of the documents filed with the court.

However, in looking at documents filed recently by both sides, there is reference to a letter from Judge Baylson to attorneys for both sides dated July 13, two days after the last "Final Judgment" proposal was filed—but for some reason, no mention of that letter appears in the docket, much less its text. But from indications in other documents, that letter was accompanied by the text of the judge's proposed (or draft) Final Judgment in the case.