The underlying libel case in trial court came about when two commissioners of Lackawanna County, Randall Castellani and Joseph Corcoran (both of whom are also members of the County Prison Board), sued the Scranton Times-Tribune for defamation arising from an article the newspaper published characterizing their testimony before a grand jury that was investigating county prison conditions as "evasive" and calling them "uncooperative." During discovery in that case, the commissioners tried to compel disclosure of the reporter's confidential source for the information about their grand jury testimony, which is, as it is in most states, secret. In response, the paper and its reporter invoked the Pennsylvania shield law. The trial judge ruled that the shield law, which Pennsylvania courts had previously held to afford an absolute privilege to confidential sources, did not apply because the source had violated grand jury secrecy. The paper appealed and the Pennsylvania Superior Court reversed, holding that there was an absolute privilege and that the source was shielded under the law. In doing so, the court noted that it was sympathetic to the commissioners' argument, but that only the Pennsylvania Supreme Court or legislature could change the law. The commissioners took the court's advice and appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which granted review.