HARRISBURG — Reporters and other courtroom observers must be allowed to issue dispatches on Twitter during the public-corruption trial of a former top Pennsylvania state legislative leader and three one-time aides, a judge ruled Monday.

An order by Dauphin County Judge Richard Lewis denying a defense motion said imposing such a ban is beyond his legal authority to limit reports on trial proceedings.

In addition, banning something that hasn't yet happened would be an impermissible prior restraint on constitutionally protected speech, he said.

Judges in Pennsylvania have the legal authority to ban activities such as photography and communications by phone or "advanced communication technology" inside the courtroom, or just outside its exits.

The defense lawyer who made the motion last week, Michael Palermo Jr., had told Lewis he was concerned about shielding witnesses from hearing one another's testimony.

Instead, Lewis ordered witnesses to avoid accounts of the high-profile trial in the 24 hours before they are scheduled to appear in court to testify. Lewis said the order is an effort to safeguard the constitutional rights of the defendants to due process.

Palermo is representing Annamarie Perretta-Rosepink, a former aide to ex-state House Democratic Whip Mike Veon of Beaver County, who is a co-defendant in the case.

The Associated Press and two newspapers opposed the motion. Some reporters covering pretrial hearings in the case issued periodic tweets from their Twitter accounts from inside the courtroom to update readers on the proceedings.