7 Media Groups Oppose Ind. AG’s Motion to Stay Their Challenge to State’s ‘Buffer Law’

The seven media organization plaintiffs seeking to block Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R) from enforcing HB-1186, the state’s “buffer law,” oppose his Feb. 21 motion to stay their case pending the outcome of a YouTuber’s appeal in a separate case before the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (see 2402220005), said their opposition Friday (docket 1:23-cv-01805) in U.S. District Court for Southern Indiana in Indianapolis. The buffer law, which took effect July 1, makes it a misdemeanor for the news media to come within 25 feet of police officers on active duty. Rokita's motion for a stay cites “no hardship of any kind” in a case in which he faces “no pending obligations,” said the opposition. He seeks an “indefinite delay” of the court’s “imminent decision on a fully briefed motion for a preliminary injunction,” it said. His request is “meritless,” it said. There’s no dispute that the YouTuber’s appeal “raises only an issue that is not necessary to the disposition” of the case that Rokita wants to have stayed, said the opposition. Even setting that “threshold problem aside,” the AG hasn’t attempted to demonstrate “any hardship” he would suffer absent a stay, it said. Rokita’s motion doesn’t even mention the “governing standard” in seeking a stay because it’s clear he can’t meet that standard, said the opposition. The plaintiffs, which include Nexstar, Scripps, Tegna and the Indianapolis Star, would be “badly prejudiced” by a delay “that would amount in substance to a denial of their motion for preliminary relief,” it said. The motion should be “promptly denied,” it said.