Judge to Detroit Reporters: Behave Yourselves

Before the first spectator set foot inside a courtroom for the city’s debut bankruptcy hearing Wednesday morning, the judge in charge of Detroit’s historic Chapter 9 case laid out some ground rules.

Judge Steven Rhodes of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit said that newspaper reporters and other media who want to cover hearings in the case will have to submit credentials for an ID badge that needs to be worn and returned afterwards, according to a three-page memo released on Monday.

The rules, meant to prevent a hallway-clogging pack of journalists from forming, also prohibit reporters from talking to their sources in the court.

“No member of the media shall either attempt to secure an interview or conduct an interview in the courthouse or in any area which prevents ingress to and egress from the courthouse,” Judge Rhodes wrote in the memo.

And don’t even think about holding press conferences on the courthouse steps “or at any point of ingress or egress from the courthouse.”

The building’s security has marked an area—the north side of Lafayette St.—for interviews, still pictures and film coverage.

The memo also set out guidelines for general court etiquette that’s expected of all attendees: “No conversations or disruptive gestures are permitted in the courtroom.”

Failure to comply with the rules “will result in removal from the courtroom,” the judge wrote.

Write to Katy Stech at [email protected].