Asked & Answered

Q: I have obtained leaked documents that appear to have been stolen from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee  related to the upcoming congressional races. The documents have not been made public. I do not intend to post the actual documents or any personal information (phone numbers, etc) but there are conversations in the documents that I believe are newsworthy and I would like to report on those conversations. Do I have potential legal liability if I

Q: My question is regarding Superior Court records. Are law enforcement officers exempt from having their information of court proceedings (non-criminal) available to the public? [su_button url=”https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/legal-hotline” target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#1ae406″ color=”#0b0707″ size=”5″ wide=”yes” center=”yes” radius=”0″ desc=”Click Here!” class=”div { font-size:x-small; }”]Exercise your right to know? Our free Legal Hotline can help![/su_button] A: Court records are subject to the First Amendment right of access, and can generally only be withheld from the public if a very high

Q: The Mayor is speaking at a Municipal League meeting tonight. A resident wants to bring a court reporter so that all of the remarks of the Mayor and others on any topic may be transcribed. Is this allowed by the First Amendment or otherwise? [su_button url=”https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/legal-hotline” target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#06d9e4″ color=”#0b0707″ size=”5″ wide=”yes” center=”yes” radius=”0″ desc=”Click Here!” class=”div { font-size:x-small; }”]Exercise your right to know? Our free Legal Hotline can help![/su_button] A: It sounds like

Q: I made a PRA request and received a reply from the County Clerk asking for postage (I ask to have the documents e-mailed). Looking online, state agencies presumably charge for postage. I have made requests from other state agencies but I don’t think they have charged me postage for items sent. I know local government folks state they can’t charge for postage.  So, can I be charged for postage? [su_button url=”https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/legal-hotline” target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#e4df06″ color=”#0b0707″ size=”5″ wide=”yes” center=”yes” radius=”0″

Q: I am a volunteer patient safety advocate in California. I have been trying to get a series of document from the Medical Board of California (and their parent the Department of Consumer Affairs) through public records requests. I think I’ve only received one document, and it wasn’t the document I requested, and the document they sent had whole sections missing and a number of individual pages (there were a few pages marked with redactions).