(AP) A federal judge ruled Monday that Gov. Robert Ehrlich can freeze out two reporters from The Baltimore Sun by barring all state employees from talking to the journalists. U.S. District Judge William Quarles dismissed the newspaper's lawsuit, saying the paper wrongly asserted a greater right to access to government officials than private citizens have. "
The right to publish news is expansive. However, the right does not carry with it the unrestrained right to gather information," the judge ruled. Sun editor Tim Franklin called the ruling "scary" and said the newspaper would seek an expedited hearing from the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Ehrlich's ban, of course, is over-reaction to the Sun's persistent hostility, and statements by the Sun's editor are way over-the-top. But then overstatement and over-reaction is the name of the game in Maryland.
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