S.C. Supreme Court rules journalist can publish diary of James Brown’s widow

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina Supreme Court says a freelance journalist can publish a diary that she says is from James Brown’s widow.

The justices ruled Wednesday that preventing Sue Summer from publishing Tommie Rae Brown’s writings would violate her First Amendment free press rights.

The writings from Tommie Rae Brown’s diary were put under seal by a judge hearing challenges to James Brown’s estate. Summer was mailed the diary with no return address and posted the contents on Facebook. The writings show Tommie Rae Brown questioned whether she and the soul singer were legally married before he died in 2006.

A lawyer for Tommie Rae Brown said Summer was publishing something a judge said should not be public. The attorney also asked that Summer be forced to reveal her source.