Faces court released to the public (6)
I believe the answer is:
issued
'public' is the definition.
The answer and definition are not the same part of speech. However, adjectives and past participle verbs sometimes define each other.
'faces court released' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'court' could be 'sue' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'sue' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'to the' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for issued that I've seen before include "Published, put out" , "released" , "Put out (a publication)" , "Having come out" , "Brought out a publication" .)