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Guide to the Zurcher v. The Stanford Daily Records
SC0580  
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Description
These records, created by The Stanford Daily as well as their attorneys (Jerome B. Falk, Jr. and Robert H. Mnookin of the Howard, Prim, Rice, Nemerovski, Canday & Pollack law firm and Anthony G. Amsterdam of the Stanford Law School), include correspondence, 1971-80; legal documents (depositions, motions, petitions, briefs, and others), 1974-1978; a notebook on the case's oral argument kept by attorney Jerome B. Falk; transcripts from the trial, 1971-72; and clippings and news articles, 1971-1978. There is also a trial transcript from an earlier case (testimony of Mark Weinberger in People v. Steven Kessler, Oct. 23, 1969) involving The Stanford Daily photographers covering a demonstration.
Background
On April 12, 1971, Palo Alto police officers obtained a warrant to search the offices of the student newspaper The Stanford Daily for photographic evidence of the April 9th Stanford University Hospital sit-in, in which property was damaged and nine officers injured. It was the first known use of a search warrant in an American newspaper office. On May 12, The Daily filed a law suit against James Zurcher, chief of police, and other officers claiming that the search was in violation of First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The case attracted national attention and became a test of the freedom of the press. Although lower courts upheld the case it was later reversed by the U. S. Supreme Court.
Extent
1.5 Linear feet
Restrictions
Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.
Availability
The materials are open for research use.