An Iowa Supreme Court justice on Tuesday lifted a highly unusual order prohibiting the Des Moines Register from publishing information it obtained from court records.

The order, from Iowa Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins, pertains to court records that include information related to Jaysen McCleary, an Iowa-licensed lawyer now living in Montana.

Over the past two months, McCleary has asked several judges to seal public records in various court proceedings where he has acted as either the plaintiff or an attorney.

He also has sued the Register and reporter Clark Kauffman in an effort to block publication of an article about him.

On Dec. 11, Wiggins ordered the Register to refrain from publishing information in court records that the Register obtained and then were subsequently sealed by a judge.

The Register objected, saying the order is an unlawful form of prior restraint that violates the First Amendment and “stands as an undesirable and unsustainable outlier in the law and policy of this state and this nation.”

Wiggins on Tuesday denied McCleary’s so-called “interlocutory and certiorari review,” a term used to describe McCleary’s request for the courts to quickly issue a decision before any final judgment in the larger lawsuit.

Wiggins additionally lifted the Dec. 11 order prohibiting the Register from publishing information it obtained from the court records.

“The stay was strictly temporary in nature, its duration limited to the time necessary for the filing of the defendants’ response, the plaintiff’s reply and this court’s entry of a ruling on the plaintiff’s combined applications,” Wiggins said in Tuesday order.

McCleary, within an hour of Tuesday’s ruling, asked the Iowa Supreme Court to grant a “three-judge review” of the order. In response to that request, Iowa Supreme Court Justices Brett Appel, Edward Mansfield and Bruce Zager confirmed Wiggins' order Tuesday afternoon.

McCleary told the Register Tuesday he plans to petition the U.S. Supreme Court as well, although he said, "the prospect of obtaining justice is low."

"I anticipated Justice Wiggins to fold under the pressure from the media, especially given the last time our justices led the nation in doing the right thing three of them lost their job," McCleary said Tuesday in an email to the Register.

In November of 2010 Chief Justice Marsha Ternus, David Baker and Michael Streit lost voter retention elections and were removed from the court following the Iowa Supreme Court's unanimous April 2009 ruling that declared as unconstitutional a state law prohibiting same-sex marriage.

Des Moines Register Executive Editor Carol Hunter said she was gratified with Tuesday’s action.

“This order upholds the U.S. Supreme Court’s long recognition that prior restraint on publication would violate the First Amendment,” Hunter said. “It’s a bedrock constitutional protection that helps guarantee a free press.”