FAC

A&A: I Have Been Blocked from My State Senator’s Instagram Account. What Can I Do?

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

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FAC Urges California Courts to Ensure Public Access Amid COVID-19 Emergency

The First Amendment Coalition and 10 other advocacy organizations today called on the California judiciary to recognize and enforce the public’s First Amendment right of access to court proceedings as court operations change in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Courts across California are halting proceedings, restricting access to buildings and holding some hearings telephonically, raising concerns that members of the public and the press, who are exempt from the state’s stay-at-home order, will face insurmountable

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A&A: How Do I Request 911 Call Transcripts?

Q: I have requested a transcript of the call to the California Highway Patrol officer that came from the 911 service and dispatched the CHP officer to the accident location. How can I obtain this record? A: Records of 911 calls are public records under the California Public Records Act and, therefore, must be disclosed unless a specific exemption to disclosure applies.  If you made a written request, the agency must determine whether the records

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Coalition Urges Compliance with California Public Records Law Amid COVID-19 Crisis

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, some government agencies in California have announced that they intend to stop responding to California Public Records Act requests until the crisis passes. There is no legal basis for this extraordinary step. The California Public Records Act, Gov. Code § 6250, et seq., remains the law of the land, and Article I, section 3(b)(1) of the California Constitution provides that “The people have a right of access to information

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A&A: Is it a First Amendment violation when Twitter Suspends My Account for “Hate Speech”

Q: I’ve had a Twitter account for at least five years. My account was suspended recently for supposed “hate” speech, and has now been permanently closed. I appealed the decision without success. While I have written sharply worded tweets, I deny that any of them were “hate” speech, and in general believe that it’s a subjective question anyway. I’m a frequent critic of Israel, and I think my tweets on that score were probably the

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