Liberty University police issue arrest warrants for NYT, ProPublica reporters

[localroger]

68. They did HOW?

That JFJ went to a law school means nothing. I know a guy who ran a very successful card counting team and spent a decade playing cat and mouse with casino bans. When you build something that looks like a public conveyance there are pretty strict rules about what you have to do to make it not be what it looks like. They would have a pretty good case if there was a guard shack and the reporters snuck around it to enter the campus, but if they went through and the guard waved them on the university has no case. If they depend on signage it has to be posted in a particular size and frequency to make sure you will notice it if you are innocently looking for a place to park your car or walk your dog. It would be almost impossible for a university to function with such a lockdown of external access; who would pick up the trash?

The rule of thumb for such institutions is that non-fenced outdoor spaces are open access, as are at least some areas of the Administration building where visitors can go to arrange access to other buildings and more secure areas. If the reporters were hanging out on the sidewalk interviewing students as they walked back and forth from class, it is impossible to believe the university has any kind of case against them at all.

Of course anyone can sue anyone for anything, and probably find a "magistrate" who has a LU background to sign off on the warrants, but that doesn't mean they will hold up in a higher court. My card counter friend won $150,000 on one occasion not at the tables but from a casino whose security manager decided to rough him up before letting him leave.