Asked & Answered

Q: Do you offer services for FOIA requests specifically at the FISA Court? This would be for my personal file. If not, can you perhaps recommend an attorney or organization who is willing to help? A: While we are unable to provide specific legal advice or representation through this hotline service, we can provide some general background information on the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) that you might find helpful.   FOIA, 5 U.S.C. § 552, is a federal open

Q: I am struggling to get the court records from my divorce proceeding. What should I do? A:  With respect to your court record, you should be able to access this record from the court where your case in pending (which sounds like Sacramento Superior Court).  There is a presumptive First Amendment right of access to court records.  Even if there’s some reason why your case has been sealed, it would seem that you, as a

Q: I am having difficulty obtaining the autopsy records from the reported mass shooting in Thousand Oaks on November 7-8, 2018. My understanding is Autopsy Records are public records in the State of California. How do I force the Medical Examiner’s hand? I’ve been asking about these since November. They don’t even cite an exemption from the PRA. A: The California Public Records Act (CPRA) sets forth the rules and procedures governing information disclosures made

Q: I recently tried to access email communications between a current elected city official and a former elected city official over a local project that’s being funded by public funds. The city responded to my requests, but only with publicly accessible information, essentially amounting to a refusal. Reasons included: the information in these emails was designated confidential and proprietary by a third party, publishing the emails could result in copyright infringement, and the emails include pre-decisional

Q: My state senator has blocked me from making comments or accessing his Instagram account, which is his official Instagram account for the Office of State Senator, and it is clearly a violation of First Amendment rights as a government official, and I need help getting them to reverse the action or sue this senator. A: A federal court in New York found that President Trump’s blocking of certain followers on Twitter was a violation