NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Media organizations covering the Martha Stewart trial won a court ruling Wednesday when a three-judge appeals panel threw out an order that had barred the media from attending jury selection in the high-profile case.

Related Links • Superseding Indictment (U.S. v. Stewart and Bacanovic) • Opinion (ABC, Inc., et al. v. Stewart and Bacanovic) • Stewart's Employment Agreement

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled that the judge in the Stewart trial made a mistake by closing the process to the media. The appellate court's ruling would reverse the lower court's order, but that has no practical implications since jury selection has been completed in the case, the court said.

Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum, the judge presiding over Stewart's case, barred reporters from the juror questioning session but provided transcripts for the media members.

Lawyers for media organizations appealed, arguing that the release of transcripts alone was not enough given the high-profile nature of the case. They argued that Judge Cedarbaum's ruling unfairly restricted the public's right to follow the trial.

Correction Earlier versions of this story incorrectly reported that news organizations sued to overturn Judge Cedarbaum's ruling. They appealed. CNN/Money regrets the error.

The appeals court's decision won't have an impact on Stewart's ongoing trial and defense lawyers will not use the ruling to question the credibility of the jurors, said Henry Mazurek, a lawyer with the firm Gerald Shargel in New York.

"In order for the defense team to question the selection, they would have to show prejudice," he added. "There's no prejudice to the defendant just because the press wasn't part of the process and the public wasn't able to listen in."

Seventeen media organizations opposed to Judge Cedarbaum's order appealed, including CNN, the New York Times and other New York newspapers, the Washington Post, the major television networks and a number of wire services.

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Stewart and her former broker, Peter Bacanovic, are accused of lying to cover up the real reason for her Dec. 27, 2001 sale of nearly 4,000 shares of ImClone. A negative announcement by the government the next day started ImClone's stock tumbling.

Meanwhile, testimony continued in the Stewart trial Wednesday, with the former general counsel from Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Gregg Blatt, on the witness stand.