On the day when The Star News Network’s Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy is scheduled to appear before a judge for publishing information from the journal of Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, news networks across America and the world have picked up the story.
Leahy was ordered to appear Tennessee Chancery Court Judge l’Ashea Myles for a show cause hearing on Monday, to determine whether publishing the information interfered with Tennessee lawsuit in which Leahy and Tennessee Star parent company Star News Digital Media, Inc. (SNDM) are seeking to compel the full release of Hale’s writings, including those that have been called a manifesto, by the Metro Nashville Police Department.
A show cause trial is a demand from a court for a party of a lawsuit to prove that they have not disobeyed any court orders. In this case, Myles suggested that Leahy could be charged with contempt of court.
During the hearing, Myles appeared to back off her threat of holding Leahy in contempt of court, and The Tennessee Star plans to continue exercising its First Amendment rights.
“I love the state of Tennessee,” Leahy said after the hearing. “It’s a great state, and my family and I have lived here for 30 years. The people are kind. The people are nice. The governance is just and measured. We started The Tennessee Star so I could exercise my First Amendment rights. I think we have served the public well, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to continue exercising our First Amendment rights.”
Here’s @michaelpleahy after today’s hearing in Nashville, where a judge had threatened to hold him in contempt.
The judge appears to have backed off the threat, and Leahy says he’ll continue to exercise his First Amendment rights pic.twitter.com/SwLNHgIOlJ
— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) June 17, 2024
Meanwhile, news outlets from around the world covered Leahy’s story.
“Daniel Horwitz, counsel for Leahy, stated in a June 12 court filing that the court’s show cause order violates Tennessee’s shield law protecting journalists’ sources and information, whether obtained confidentially or not,” The Blaze reported. “Horwitz also suggested that the newly minted Democratic judge’s order also contravenes Tennessee’s contempt law, ‘deprives Mr. Leahy of minimum due process guarantees,’ and suffers from ‘other serious constitutional infirmities.'”
The Post Millennial also covered the story.
“The Tennessee Star published the bombshell manifesto after the federal and local governments worked to block the public from seeing it, citing concerns it could be used as a roadmap for copycat school shooters in the future and there could be ‘unintended consequences for the segment of the population more vulnerable or open to conspiracy theories,'” that outlet wrote, adding that Leahy has been “threatened with prison time if he doesn’t reveal his source who leaked Audrey Hale’s manifesto.”
The UK’s Daily Mail wrote a story on Leahy’s plight on Saturday.
“At Myle’s request, Tennessee Star editor-in-chief Michael Patrick Leahy will appear in court Monday to explain why his news outlet didn’t violate the court order,” Daily Mail reported. “Leahy, who also serves as CEO of Star News Digital Media, publisher of the Tennessee Star, claims his outlet has done nothing wrong throughout the course of its reporting.”
Leahy was interviewed by Michael Shellenberger, a free speech activist who has more than one million followers on X. In that interview, Leahy said he would go to jail before revealing information about the source who provided the documents.
Michael Patrick Leahy: "A Judge Doesn't Have The Right To Force Me To Do Something Unconstitutional"
Tennessee journalist faces jail for publishing quotes from the leaked writings of a mentally ill, trans-identified school shooter
One of the most famous moments in American… pic.twitter.com/yH6997t0ud
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) June 17, 2024
Social media influencers jumped into the mix, too.
“Michael Patrick Leahy is a hero,” said The Redheaded Libertarian, a popular X user.
Michael Patrick Leahy is a hero. https://t.co/lCP7bD6Jr2
— The Redheaded libertarian (@TRHLofficial) June 17, 2024
That post was in response to right-wing personality Mike Cernovich’s post sharing The Daily Mail story.
Author Joe Allen also defended Leahy.
“Michael Patrick Leahy is being dragged into court for reporting on the contents of the Nashville school shooter’s diary,” he said. “If he weren’t bold enough to do so, the public would be left to speculate about the motive. The state wants to control what you see. Leahy defied them.”
Michael Patrick Leahy is being dragged into court for reporting on the contents of the Nashville school shooter's diary. If he weren't bold enough to do so, the public would be left to speculate about the motive.
The state wants to control what you see. Leahy defied them. https://t.co/emEvGtzUCj
— Joe Allen (@JOEBOTxyz) June 17, 2024
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on X/Twitter.
Image “Michael Patrick Leahy” by Brent Scher / DailyWire.
It is about time Media got up and stood up on this issue.
Thoughts:
1 The drugs the Covenant School shooter was on at the time of the shooting should be known. The community needs all information related to these murders. You would think those most vocal about preventing future school shootings would want the information available to all.
2 I know someone who receives care through the VUMC network. The person is not under psychiatric care but in the aftermath of the Covenant School shooting the person’s care team has withdrawn Lorazepam from the med list. It was done so with strong but unspecified concerns about the drug.
3 If the Covenant shooter had been journalling MAGA themes we would have the entirety of the writings.
4 It would be interesting to timeline the themes of the Covenant shooter’s writings and see if they parallel the timeline of progressive themes and social media tropes of the same points in time.
5 God bless Michael Leahy.
# 1 KID > Withholding information embarrassing to the progressive movement