Texas citizen muckraking journalist Priscilla Villarreal is suing the Laredo police for denying her First Amendment rights. The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled against her, and now Villarreal is hoping the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the case. (Columbia Journalism Review, June 3, 2024, by Cameron Joseph)
Villarreal was arrested for asking a routine question of police that they claimed violated a 1973 law intended to stem political corruption making it a felony to ask for information not made public for the purposed of obtaining a benefit. In a brief to the Supreme Court, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and 21 news organizations wrote, “No right is more fundamental to the practice of journalism than the one the Fifth Circuit declined to recognize: the right to ask public officials for information.” The brief urged the Supreme Court to remove the chill generated by the appeals court’s decision and uphold the principle that the free press cannot rely solely on the government to supply information. (Reason, May 30, 2024, by Jacob Sullum)
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