FIRST AMENDMENT COALITION

This morning Gov. Brown received the first bundle of letters in response to FAC’s call for him to Veto the CPRA Budget Bill threats, and by this afternoon, newspaper editorial writers across the state had joined the growing chorus of voices urging Brown to undo what the legislature had just done to Californians’ right to access [...]

On Friday we posted a notice on the website and sent out a letter to subscribers urging them to sign an email to Governor Brown to veto the section of the  Budget Bill that weakens the CPRA. Over the weekend news organizations across the state picked up on the story and headlines ensued:   “California [...]

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to take a case involving a court order that blocked anti-abortion activists from displaying large photos of aborted fetuses outside a Denver church holding a Easter procession. The church sued the activists to shield  children from the gruesome images. (The Christian Science Monitor, June 10, 2013, by Warren Richey) In [...]

The Connecticut governor signed a law denying reporters access to crime scene information. The families asked for the law that freedom of information advocates said puts the burden of proof on reporters to show that public interests outweigh privacy concerns. (The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, June 7, 2013, by Amy Zang) The [...]

A Los Angeles Times editorial criticizes another attempt to pass a law, AB 246 in this case, to allow circumvention of California’s Brown Act, its open meeting law. These attempts came after the Los Angeles County district attorney decided that the county board of supervisors violated the open meeting law by meeting with Governor Jerry [...]

U.S. intelligence agencies forced withdrawal of the English-language al Qaeda online magazine Inspire May 14 by hacking into the publication and altering its content. Inspire was published again May 30 with articles praising the Boston Marathon bombing. (The Washington Post, June 11, 2013, by Ellen Nakashima) U.S. intelligence forces have been hunting for the editor [...]

An employee of a National Security Agency contractor has admitted to leaking details of a domestic surveillance program that collected phone call data on the Verizon network. Now in Hong Kong, whistleblower Edward Snowden said he was upset that the public was not apprised of the program and unable to debate the merits of spying [...]

A California appeals court ruled for prison inmates over the censorship of a paperback novel, “The Silver Crown,” that prison authorities had judged obscene and possessing the power to incite violence. (San Francisco Chronicle, June 5, 2013, by Bob Egelko) Writing for the unanimous court, Judge James Richman did not find the novel obscene. Given that [...]

President Obama signed the Stolen Valor Act of 2013 making it a criminal offense to lie about military honors for economic gain. Congress passed the law after the Supreme Court ruled the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 was a violation of the First Amendment. (ACB News, June 3, by Lee Ferrin) In 2012, the Supreme [...]

A seven-month investigative report by the San Antonio Express-News, June 1, 2013, by Karisa King and 11 other contributors showed that 60 percent of the victims of sexual assault in the military who report the incidents are routinely ignored, harassed, labeled as mentally unfit and transferred or drummed out of the force. Perpetrators are rarely [...]