firstamendment

By Tom Blanton NPR, All Things Considered—Wednesday, in his first set of presidential orders, President Obama instructed federal agencies to be more responsive to Freedom of Information requests. It’s part of his promise to increase transparency in government. Every military veteran, every senior citizen, every private business ought to be cheering the president on because those are the folks who really use the Freedom of Information Act. I know what you’re thinking — the Freedom

AG Jerry Brown’s decision to oppose Prop 8 in the Supreme Court will, ironically, only help the pro-Prop 8 forces By Peter Scheer The California Supreme Court, in one of its most important cases, is weighing a challenge to Prop 8, the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. If the Court upholds Prop 8, one of the people you can blame is Attorney General Jerry Brown. But wait a minute. Didn’t Brown make headlines recently by

Obama should just say ‘No’ to aides who, worried about FOIA, say he must give up beloved Blackberry By Peter Scheer Barack Obama, so far as we know, has two addictions: cigarettes and his Blackberry cell phone. While his wife leans on him to give up the cigarettes, his staff aides have been insisting he retire the cell phone. Obama during the presidential campaign was visibly tethered to his Blackberry, its text and email functions

Prop 8’s victory, reinstating ban on same sex marriage, is big loss for California Supreme Court, but damage not irreparable By Peter Scheer Although its name did not even appear on the ballot, the California Supreme Court was perhaps the state’s biggest loser in Tuesday’s historic elections. The voters’ narrow approval of Proposition 8 effectively reverses the high Court’s controversial decision, earlier this year, extending the right to marry to same-sex couples. The Court knew