The Appellate Division, First Department rejected a stay application on the April 26 decision by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice James Burke to close the courtroom during sensitive evidence hearings in the criminal case against Harvey Weinstein.

Filed by Court TV after Burke declined to stay the Molineux/Sandoval hearings ahead of an immediate appeal, the petition argued the broadcaster would “suffer irreparable constitutional injury, because it will be forever deprived of its First Amendment right to attend the hearing.”