by TChris

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, responding to a letter from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press that criticized federal Marshals for seizing and erasing tape recordings of speeches he gave to students, announced that he is revising his policy "so as to permit recording [of his speeches] for use of the print media." He said that he has also written letters of apology to the reporters involved. TalkLeft's background on this controversy is available here and here.

In his letter to the Reporters Committee, Scalia, 68, said he doesn't control the marshals' actions and will express his "preference'' that they not confiscate recordings.

In other words, Justice Scalia now prefers that the Marshals obey the law, which prohibits the seizure of notes or recordings from journalists under most circumstances. The Committee's letter (pdf) to John Ashcroft and the Marshals has not been answered, but a spokeman for the Marshals' office promised a response after the letter has been reviewed.

Update: from New York Times Columnist Bob Herbert:

When agents acting on behalf of a Supreme Court justice can just snatch and destroy information collected by reporters, we haven't just thumbed our nose at the Constitution, we've taken a very dangerous step in a very ugly direction. The depot at the end of that dark road is totalitarianism.

[hat tip to Sean Paul at The Agonist]