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Peter Scheer

Despite the complaints of blogger-critics, new federal shield bill is last best chance for meaningful protection of reporters’ confidential sources.

Peter Scheer September 17, 2013

For the first time since the post-Watergate era, the stars are aligned for Congress to enact–and for the President to sign–a “Shield Law” that would provide meaningful protection against the forced-exposure of journalists’ confidential sources. Although nearly all states have shield laws, they do not apply to the subpoenas of federal courts and federal grand juries: a big gap in coverage that inevitably restricts news reporting on controversial matters involving the federal government. News of

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Big victory in CA Supreme Court case on public access to government data

Peter Scheer July 9, 2013

In a major victory for open government and data access, the California Supreme Court yesterday ruled that Orange County cannot restrict access to its electronic mapping data–a so-called “basemap.” The Court decided unanimously that the county basemap is a public record under the Public Records Act, which means that it must be made available without use restrictions and for the cost of duplication–a few dollars at most. At the start of the case, Orange County

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FAC, other civil liberties groups file brief asking FISA Court to ungag Google, Microsoft

Peter Scheer July 8, 2013

Civil liberties groups yesterday filed a brief in the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court arguing that Google and Microsoft must be ungagged so they can describe their role in the government’s surveillance of the internet. The brief supports motions filed previously by Google and Microsoft requesting orders freeing them to publish information, in aggregate form,  about the extent of the government’s court-authorized access to their data. The First Amendment Coalition (FAC) organized the filing of

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Assembly approves constitutional amendment to protect CPRA, Brown Act

Peter Scheer July 1, 2013

The CA Assembly overwhelmingly (78-) approved placing a Constitutional Amendment (SCA 3) on the June, 2014 ballot asking voters to decide whether to end the practice of suspending the Brown Act and the California Public Records Act (CPRA) whenever the state faces a revenue shortfall, the CNPA Legislative Journal reported today: Senator Mark Leno [who introduced SCA 3 with Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, said] the legislature’s action “allows California voters to debate the

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For the Supreme Court’s decision NOT to rule on the constitutionality of gay marriage, you can blame Jerry Brown

Peter Scheer June 26, 2013

The Supreme Court has ducked the legal challenge to Prop 8, thereby avoiding a landmark ruling on one of the central constitutional claims of our time: the right of gays to marry, not just in California but in every state, city and village in the nation. While I take no pleasure in saying “I told you so,” this outcome, resulting from a political miscalculation by Jerry Brown, was predictable and predicted. In this 2010 article

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