SHEPPARD v. MAXWELL, WARDEN

Whether a state ethics rule prohibiting attorneys from making extrajudicial statements to the press that have a "substantial likelihood of material prejudice" violates the First Amendment.

Did a state trial judge, presiding over a widely publicized murder trial, violate the First Amendment when he entered an order which, as modified by the Nebraska Supreme Court, restrained petitioner newspaper, broadcasters, journalists, news media associations, and national newswire services from publishing or broadcasting accounts of confessions or admissions made by the accused to law enforcement officers or third parties, except members of the press, and other facts "strongly implicative" of the accused

Whether a publisher can be held for contempt for an out-of-court editorial statement concerning a pending criminal case.