First Amendment protects reporters against liability for persuading a source to violate an NDA

In the course of ruling that the New York Times and its reporters could not be sued for persuading Mary Trump to disclose tax returns that had been disclosed in previously litigation, and which her lawyers had been keeping subject to a nondisclosure clause that formed part of the settlement agreement in that litigation, a New York trial judge ruled that the First Amendment right to engage in newsgathering protected the reporters from claims for tortious interference with contract. The court also decided that that New York’s common law would not permit these claims even if the First Amendment did not black them, that New York’s antiSLAPP law extends beyond defamation claims to other claims based on newsgathering activity, that getting the documents was covered by the “lawful conduct in furtherance of the exercise of the constitutional right of free speech” clause of the anti-SLAPP law, and that Trump would have to pay attorney fees for the Times defendants