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What is "gag order"

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
gag order
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A Republican abortion rights group calls it a virtual gag order.
▪ He also argued family planning clinics should not be bound by a gag order preventing them from counseling patients on abortion.
▪ Police, citing a gag order in the drug trial, declined to answer questions about why Hernandez allegedly wanted Irvin killed.
▪ The judge in the case has clamped a gag order on all participants and seems very serious about it.
▪ Under a virtual gag order thanks to Intel marketing, P5 architect Don Alpert couldn't answer questions substantively.
Wiktionary
gag order

n. 1 (context legal English) An order issued by a court prohibiting specified persons from discussing a case outside limitations set by the court. 2 (context informal English) Any directive from a person in authority prohibiting another person from speaking about a certain thing.

WordNet
gag order

n. a court order restricting information or comment by the participants involved in a lawsuit; "imposing a gag order on members of the press violates the First Amendment"

Wikipedia
Gag order

A gag order (also known as a gagging order or suppression order) is an order, typically a legal order by a court or government, restricting information or comment from being made public or passed onto any unauthorized third party. The phrase may sometimes be used of a private order by an employer or other institution.

Gag orders may be used, for example, to keep legitimate trade secrets of a company, to protect the integrity of ongoing police or military operations, or to protect the privacy of victims or minors. Conversely, as their downside, they may be abused as a useful tool for those of financial means to intimidate witnesses and prevent release of information, using the legal system rather than other methods of intimidation. Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) orders may potentially be abused in this way.

In a similar manner, a "gag law" may limit freedom of the press, by instituting censorship or restricting access to information.

Usage examples of "gag order".

It is also my understanding that the court is issuing a gag order which prohibits anyone from telling anybody at all that this court will not allow us to call Chris Morgan, and thus, there is no answer to why Chris Morgan was not called, and you are prohibiting us from telling the press that the State of Arkansas objected to this evidence and this witness, and that you would not allow us to question him and you would not allow us to discuss your ruling at all, and this is a public trial, which has been continually played out in front of the .

I can and will secure a gag order on this portion of his statement to protect his interests.