The unsigned eight-page opinion says that a 1984 Supreme Court opinion established a First Amendment right of the public and press to attend a trial, including jury selection. The high court also ruled in 1984 that the Sixth Amendment guarantee of a public trial also extends to pretrial hearings.

What the court had never declared until Tuesday is that the Sixth Amendment – not just the First Amendment – guarantees that jury selection is part of the public portion of a trial.