Branzburg v. Hayes

So a long time ago, there was a reporter named Branzburg who was working on a story about drugs. He talked to some people who were doing bad things, but he promised not to tell anyone their names. Then, a grand jury asked Branzburg to tell them who he talked to because they thought those people were doing illegal things.

Branzburg didn't want to tell the grand jury who he talked to because he promised not to. But the grand jury said he had to or he would go to jail. Branzburg was mad because he thought it wasn't fair that he had to break his promise to the people he talked to.

So Branzburg took his case to the Supreme Court, which is a really important group of judges. The court listened to him and also listened to another case where a newspaper reporter named Paul Branzburg wrote a story about anti-war protesters. The police wanted to know who told him about the protesters, but he also promised not to tell.

The Supreme Court had to decide if reporters should have to tell who they talked to if it might help the police catch bad people. The judges decided that reporters do not have a special right to keep secrets and that the police can force them to tell things they know.

This made a lot of reporters very upset because they thought it was unfair. But some people thought the court made the right decision because they said it helps keep our country safe from bad people who do illegal things.