There’s no justification for health-care workers’ using pseudonyms in their lawsuit against Maine’s Covid-vaccine mandates — that’s the word from the federal courts, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
“The [plaintiffs’] filing of an amended complaint disclosing their identities was the culmination of a months-long legal battle waged by local news organizations who had intervened in the case to require the workers to identify themselves in their lawsuit against the governor of Maine, senior state health officials and local healthcare providers,” RCFP reports.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied an emergency motion by the health-care workers to remain anonymous behind false names, finding that they had not shown a “reasonable fear of harm” resulting from their being identified.
“Represented by attorneys with the Reporters Committee and law firm Preti Flaherty LLP, the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, Kennebec Journal, Morning Sentinel and Sun Journal argued that allowing the workers to continue litigating the case under pseudonyms would violate the public’s right of access to court proceedings,” the organization said.
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