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FAC

A&A: Blocked and Bullied by City Council Member

FAC January 26, 2018

Q:  There has been an ongoing battle to maintain my First Amendment right in City Council to testify against policies that I feel are unjust. In March, the Council voted unanimously to keep me and others out of City Council hearings should they deem it necessary. In their votes, both a commissioner and the mayor acknowledged it may be unconstitutional to do so, but they did it anyway. The ACLU took up my case but

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First Amendment Attorney Duffy Carolan Elected President of FAC Board of Directors

FAC January 15, 2018

The First Amendment Coalition is pleased to announce the election of Duffy Carolan, an esteemed First Amendment lawyer and longtime board member, as president of FAC’s Board of Directors. Carolan, a former journalist who has spent her career defending the First Amendment, is one of the country’s foremost champions of free speech and access to government information. As a partner at the Jassy, Vick, Carolan firm in San Francisco, Carolan represents a wide range of

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Victory for FAC’s Subpoena Defense Initiative 

FAC January 2, 2018

A reporter for Berkeleyside, a daily news website in Berkeley, California, will not be required to testify in a criminal trial after FAC’s Subpoena Defense Initiative helped secure attorneys to protect the journalist’s rights under the state’s shield law. Emilie Raguso, a senior reporter at the outlet, received a subpoena last month to testify in the criminal trial of William Turner, who was at the center of a case she covered. Lacking legal counsel to

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FAC Sues Bakersfield For Open Meetings, Records Violations

FAC December 22, 2017

The First Amendment Coalition (FAC) yesterday filed suit against the city of Bakersfield over the city council’s repeated practice of holding closed-door meetings to discuss topics that under California law must be heard in public. The lawsuit, jointly filed with Californians Aware (CalAware) in Kern County Superior Court, also demands that the city release public records relating to the unlawful council sessions—records the city is required to disclose under the California Public Records Act but

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Amici Briefs Digest, Dec. 2017

FAC December 7, 2017

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

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