Calderon

Arthur Calderon, Warden of San Quentin Prison, and James H. Gomez, Director of the California Department of Corrections (collectively “Calderon”), appeal the district court’s injunction requiring them to allow witnesses to executions by lethal injection to view the procedure from the time the inmate is secured to the gurney until just' after the pronouncement of death. The injunction was granted in an action brought pursuant to 42-U.S.C. § 1983 by the California First Amendment Coalition and the Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California Chapter, alleging that the defendants’ handling of the February 23, 1996 execution of William Bonin violated the public's First Amendment right of observation of and access to government proceedings.

We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we reverse.

FACTS AND PRIOR PROCEEDINGS

The History and Scope of Access to Executions in California

Before 1858, California had public hangings. See People v. Anderson, 6 Cal.3d 628 , 100 Cal.Rptr. 152 , 493 P.2d 880 , 890 n. 25 (1972). In 1858, the California Legislature passed a statute moving executions inside county jails and requiring “at least 12 reputable citizens” to be…