Of course Orange County judge David C. Velasquez was going to lose on his order barring the Register from reporting on a lawsuit against the paper by its news carriers. A three-judge panel of the state appeals court sent Velasquez a unanimous reminder yesterday that the First Amendment pretty much means what it says.

Prior restraint is "the most serious and the least tolerable infringement on First Amendment rights," said the 4th District Court of Appeal.

Citing U.S. Supreme Court precedent, the appeals panel said gag orders are only justified to prevent dissemination of information about troop movements during wartime or to suppress information that "would set in motion a nuclear holocaust."

The judges noted that Velasquez could have started by, you know, telling witnesses not to read the Register coverage. More than two dozen news organizations joined the Register as friends of the court in appealing the original order.