Appeal Rejected

When Cleveland Press staffers took a courtroom picture of a deposed local judge on trial for embezzlement, the judge hearing the case objected. But the Press went ahead anyway, was held in contempt of court (TIME, Sept. 21, 1953) and fined $700 plus a token jail term for the city editor--one hour in the sheriff's custody. The Press's Editor Louis Seltzer announced that he would appeal the verdict to the highest courts in the U.S.

Last week the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal. Seltzer conceded that the paper had "no choice" but to accept the court's verdict. The Press, however, still felt it had a right to print the picture. Said a Press editorial: "It was not the picture taking that upset [the judge].

It was the picture being printed . . . This was a clear case of special privilege being sought for a favored defendant."

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