firstamendment

The Jailing Of One California Journalist And Imminent Jailing Of Two More Represent An Illicit Power-Grab And Usurpation Of State Sovereignty By The Bush Justice Department. By Peter Scheer A freelance documentary filmmaker is in jail in Dublin, CA, for refusing to comply with a subpoena to turn over to federal prosecutors the out-takes of his filming of a 2005 street demonstration that turned violent. And two San Francisco Chronicle reporters are packing their bags

CFAC joins amicus brief backing documentary journalist jailed for refusing to turn over out-takes to federal prosecutors CFAC, together with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the Society of Professional Journalists and the WIW Freedom to Write Fund, has filed an amicus brief in the case of independent documentary film maker and self-styled anarchist, Josh Wolf. Here’s a PDF of the brief. Wolf is in jail for having refused to honor a federal

Judge Walker’s decision in the NSA surveillance case reflects a growing distrust in the federal judiciary of the Bush administration’s expansion of executive power By Peter Scheer Three cheers for Vaughn Walker. Vaughn who? you ask. Until very recently, he was also unknown to lawyers and policy makers in the White House. But on July 20 the unassuming chief judge of the federal district court in San Francisco dropped a judicial bomb. In a suit

Illegal immigrants have access rights too. The benefits of the Brown Act and Public Records Act do not depend on citizenship. By Peter Scheer California’s open government laws–the Brown Act and the Public Records Act, primarily–are often said to vindicate the “people’s right to know” about their government. And indeed they do. But this formulation begs the question: which “people” exactly? At the country’s founding, seemingly universalist references to “the people” actually meant a minority