FAC

Amici Briefs Digest – Sept. 2018

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

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FAC Sues DOJ Over Trump Administration’s Secret Collection of Journalist’s Records

The First Amendment Coalition (FAC) today sued the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to force the department to disclose records relating to the government’s seizure of confidential telephone and email records from New York Times reporter Ali Watkins. The suit, filed today in federal court in San Francisco under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), seeks memos, emails or other documents that would shed light on why the DOJ collected Watkins’ records for months secretly,

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FAC Seeks Nominations for 2018 Free Speech & Open Government Award

The First Amendment Coalition is soliciting nominees for the FAC Free Speech & Open Government Award, given each year for performance of exemplary work in the arena of open government. Qualifications for the award are outstanding accomplishment, service or other contributions to “the people’s right to know” about government. The winner, or winners, could be a journalist, blogger, lawyer, news organization (print or digital), software developer or community activist. We wish to recognize an individual

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The Press Goes Full Donner Party

BY DAVID SNYDER—As 2018 slouches onward, an already embattled news media has found itself ever more isolated and mistrusted. Just one depressing frame from the lowlight reel: according to a recent poll by Axios, nearly all Republicans (93%), and a majority of Democrats (53%), believe traditional news outlets knowingly report false or misleading stories “at least sometimes.” As shocking as this finding is to anyone with even a glancing exposure to how journalism works—and specifically

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FAC Urges Ninth Circuit to Protect Journalists Who Publish Sensitive Government Information

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 by the ACLU that the FBI violated the federal Privacy Act by opening a “threat assessment” — the precursor to a criminal investigation — on

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