FAC weighs in on issues in already-filed cases through the submission of amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) briefs. Depending on time constraints, we also enlist other organizations and interested parties to join FAC in amicus briefs.
The California Supreme Court today issued an opinion preventing government agencies from charging the public for editing and compiling police body camera footage and other electronic records before the records are released. The First Amendment Coalition and the California News Publishers Association filed an amicus brief in the case, National Lawyers
Ventura County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association v. County of Ventura et al. Read the amicus brief filed by the First Amendment Coalition Court: California’s Second District Court of Appeal About the case: On January 1, 2019, California’s landmark law known as SB 1421 took effect that made public records concerning certain
The First Amendment Coalition (FAC) on Friday filed a “friend of court” brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, urging that court to reverse a federal district court ruling that jeopardizes important First Amendment protections for journalists who publish sensitive or classified government information. The lower court dismissed claims
The First Amendment Coalition (FAC) today filed an amicus brief in a California Court of Appeal case that could have far-reaching consequences for the transparency of government meetings. In the brief, FAC urges the court to find that Metrolink, Southern California’s largest commuter rail system, violated the state’s open-meetings laws
A court in Hayward, CA yesterday denied an unprecedented effort by a public school district to recover nearly half a million dollars in attorneys fees from a woman who had requested public records from the district. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Brand ruled that the motion by the Newark
The First Amendment Coalition and the American Civil Liberties Union on Monday submitted a friend-of-court brief arguing that an effort by the Newark Unified School District to recover nearly half a million dollars in attorneys’ fees from a woman who requested public records under the California Public Records Act is
Four times a year FAC publishes a comprehensive summary of the Amicus Briefs that we have authored or joined during the previous three months.
Here are amicus briefs and/or letters FAC has either authored or joined since March, 2018: FAC Authored Amici ACLU 9th Circuit Appeal. On August 3, we filed an amicus brief in support of the ACLU of Northern California’s appeal of an adverse Privacy Act ruling against their clients, two editors of the website antiwar.com. Our amicus brief argues, in essence, that the lower court’s ruling would open the door to the FBI broadly collecting information about journalists for the mere act of publishing — just the kind of surveillance prohibited under the Privacy Act. FAC was represented here by Cooley
Here are amicus briefs and/or letters FAC has either authored or joined since Dec. 2018: FAC Authored Amicus Briefs Brazil v. Newark Unified: On February 2, FAC filed an amicus brief that we co-authored with the ACLU in a trial court proceeding. This was a fairly unusual move for FAC. We have generally steered clear of trial-court amicus briefs for a number of reasons, including (a) trial court rulings have limited or no impact beyond the parties to the case; and (b) they are logistically difficult, with short time frames and unclear rules about whether and how they can be
Here are amicus briefs and/or letters FAC has joined since the last report: FAC Joined Amicus Briefs Guiffre v. Maxwell: FAC signed on to this amicus brief by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. It asks the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn an extremely overbroad sealing order that purports to require secrecy of records filed with the court as part of discovery motions in a defamation lawsuit brought by one of the alleged victims of sex trafficking committed by financier Jeffrey Epstein. In re National Security Letter: FAC signed on to this Reporters Committee amicus brief
Here are amicus briefs and/or letters FAC has either authored or joined since the last report: Amicus Briefs Authored By FAC Callaghan v. West Virginia Judicial Investigation Commission: FAC authored an amicus brief urging the United States Supreme Court to review and reverse a decision by the West Virginia Supreme Court imposing draconian penalties on a candidate for judicial office for statements he made during a political campaign. The Philadelphia firm of Schnader Harrison prepared FAC’s amicus brief, which is in support of Callaghan’s petition for review by the Court. The core argument is that political speech must receive the
