The Sacramento Bee v. United States District Court For The Eastern District Of California

656 F.2d 477 7 Media L. Rep. 1929 , 7 Media L. Rep. 2376 The SACRAMENTO BEE, published by McClatchy Newspapers, Petitioner, v. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR the EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, NORTHERN DIVISION, Respondent, United States of America, William Dale Smith, Cheryl Bickford, James Cameron, Julius Fisherman, Norman Heifner, Andrew Pope, and Norman Truax, Real Parties In Interest. No. 81-7255. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted July 15, 1981. Decided Sept. 14, 1981. As Corrected on Denial of Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Nov. 6, 1981. Douglas T. Foster, Sacramento, Cal., for petitioner. E. Richard Walker, Sacramento, Cal., for respondent. Petition for Writ of Mandamus to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. Before WRIGHT, TRASK and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges. EUGENE A. WRIGHT, Circuit Judge: 1 The Sacramento Bee petitions for a writ of mandamus directing the district court to issue no further orders excluding the press from any stage of a criminal trial. We conclude that the court's decision to close two brief hearings during the course of a two-month trial, after it had carefully considered…