donal brown

The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected the free speech argument that sponsors of initiative should be allowed to remain anonymous. The court ruled that although sponsors’ names are in elections records, voters must have that information before them when deciding whether to sign. It also ruled that the sponsors be registered voters. The case involved a challenge mounted in Chula Vista, California. (San Francisco Chronicle, April 3, 2015, by Bob Elgelko) Citizens brought

The Little Saigon newspaper Saigon Nho failed in its attempt to obtain a new jury trial in a defamation case that resulted in a $4.5 million judgment for a rival newspaper. (Voice of OC, March 26, 2015, by Thy Vo) A Superior Court jury determined in December that Saigon Nho must pay $3 million for damages and $1.5 million in punitive damages to a Westminster, California Vietnamese newspaper, Nguoi Viet. A 2012 article in Saigon

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has mounted an aggressive campaign for college free speech rights with nine First Amendment lawsuits. One case filed in March pitted Dixie State University (Utah) students, disciplined for lampooning U.S. presidents, against their administration. And last week, FIRE filed a case on behalf of a Cal Poly Pomona student prevented from handing out literature about animal abuse and vegan practices. (National Review, March 31, 2015, by Jennifer

Reporters say that under the Obama administration, they are experiencing more roadblocks than ever. A Florida reporter said she expended an excessive amount of time and energy obtaining records about a tuberculosis outbreak near Jacksonville. An environmental writer for the Associated Press has been stymied repeatedly in her FOIA request for federal data about bird deaths on wind farms in 2013. And reporters everywhere say they have to go through public information officers before speaking

The U.S. Supreme Court sided with a school administration of a Morgan Hill, California high school  in leaving in place a ruling that they acted correctly in asking students to remove shirts with images of American flags during Cinco de Mayo. The administration was concerned that given a history of tension and fighting between whites and Hispanics that the shirts might incite violence and a federal appeals court agreed with them. (Reuters, March 30, 2015,