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Federal Judge Nixes Courtroom Tweeting

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Perhaps looking to restore order in the court -- and a little common courtesy -- a federal judge in Georgia has banned using Twitter while in the courtroom, CBSNews.com reports.

According to U.S. District Judge Clay Land, Rule 53 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure should be interpreted to ban Twitter. This is what it says:

"Except as otherwise provided by a statute or these rules, the court must not permit the taking of photographs in the courtroom during judicial proceedings or the broadcasting of judicial proceedings from the courtroom."

The ban came after a reporter for the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer asked permission to tweet the deets from a corruption trial, which was scheduled to start on Monday.

Image Credit: Flickr Joe Gratz

COMMENTS
avatarIt seems dumb at first, but

It seems dumb at first, but this is actually a safety issue.  Around where I live they had people testifying against gang members and friends of the accused would come in and take pics with their cell phones of witnesses to intimidate or worse.

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