By Jan Wolfe

WASHINGTON (Reuters] – Friday’s New York State Court order ordered that Project Veritas receive the New York Times’ internal files. The newspaper claimed this restriction violates the decades-old First Amendment.

In an unusual written ruling https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/DocumentDisplayServlet?documentId=SgQ8IEENXxhU2D4NlHEZHw==&system=prod, Justice Charles Wood of the Westchester County Supreme Court directed the New York Times to return to Project Veritas any physical copies of legal memos prepared by one of the group’s lawyers, and to destroy electronic versions.

Wood entered an order temporarily against The New York Times late last month. This drew criticism from Freedom of the Press advocates.

James O’Keefe is the leader of Project Veritas. He has used misleading techniques like secret audio recording in order to expose liberal media bias. Justice Department investigators are looking into whether the group was involved in the theft and publication of Ashley’s diary, which had been stolen from President Joe Biden.

Project Veritas opposed a Nov. 11 Times piece that was based on legal memos. It purportedly revealed how Project Veritas collaborated with its lawyers in order to determine how far their deceptive reporting practices could go before they run afoul Federal Laws.

Wood stated Friday that Project Veritas’ legal memos weren’t a matter for public concern, and that it has the right of keeping them secret that is greater than any concerns regarding freedom of press.

Wood stated that Wood could not allow the “fundamental protections of attorney client privilege or the basic rights to privacy to be abrogated by steadfast fidelity and vigilance in protecting First Amendment Freedoms”

A.G. Sulzberger was the publisher of The New York Times. He stated that the newspaper will appeal against the decision.

Sulzberger stated that the Times was prohibited from publishing any newsworthy information obtained legal in the normal course of reporting.

Sulzberger explained that the judge had imposed an unconstitutional prior restriction and ordered that this material be returned. A ruling without any apparent precedent, which could pose obvious risks of exposing sources, was made.

Libby Locke, a lawyer for Project Veritas, said in a statement that the New York Times’ behavior was “irregular,” and that the ruling affirms that view.

Locke stated that the New York Times had long lost the significance of journalism and is now a tool for the promotion of a political agenda.

Project Veritas began defamation proceedings against The New York Times last year after the paper published a piece calling their work “deceptive”.

The Times has not been subject to any previous restraints since 1971 when Nixon attempted unsuccessfully to stop publication of Pentagon Papers detailing U.S military involvement in Vietnam.