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Peter Scheer

Announcing FAC’s “Kiss” and “Kiss-Off” awards

Peter Scheer September 3, 2010

In keeping with the new normal of polarized politics, FAC has launched a new feature that views the world of First Amendment issues as consisting of good guys and bad guys. The good guys, on whom we bestow a “First Amendment Kiss,” are people and institutions who, by their acts, words, or example, strengthen free speech safeguards, public access to government information and decision-making, and the accountability of elected officials.  The bad guys, whom we

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A 1st Amendment Kiss** to the LA Times for coverage of LA schools that empowers parents to hold bureaucrats and politicians accountable

Peter Scheer August 27, 2010

A big First Amendment Kiss** to the Los Angeles Times and reporters Jason Felch, Jason Song and Doug Smith for their recent stories about LA public schools. The Times applied statistical analysis to seven years of student test scores in order to measure teachers’ effectiveness in math and English instruction. Using an outside consultant to parse student test data obtained under the California Public Records Act, the Times’ created and published online a database of

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If hard-won court victory against Prop 8 is tossed out because of “standing” defect, you can thank Jerry Brown

Peter Scheer August 18, 2010

BY PETER SCHEER—If I were Ted Olson, the former US solicitor general who is leading the legal battle against Prop 8, I would be unhappy with Jerry Brown right now. Olson’s hard-won victory before federal district court judge Vaughn Walker was meant to be the first stage of a legal strategy culminating in a US Supreme Court decision establishing–for the entire country–a constitutional right of gay marriage. But Judge Walker’s decision striking down Prop 8

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Wikileaks didn’t just happen. It exists because journalists have lost control over their information.

Peter Scheer July 29, 2010

BY PETER SCHEER–The New York Times’ front-page stories on the war in Afghanistan–based on a massive leak of classified US military cables and other documents–are not likely to change the course of the war. But they represent a sea change in the way journalists report on national security. The records for the Times’ articles, which inevitably invite comparison to the “Pentagon Papers” of an earlier generation and an earlier war, were supplied to the Times

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PRESS RELEASE: FAC Suit Against CalPERS Seeks Records on Controversial E Palo Alto Real Estate Investment

Peter Scheer July 19, 2010

FAC—Monday July 19—The First Amendment Coalition (FAC) today announced that it has sued CalPERS, the retirement system for California government workers, over access to records about the agency’s ill-fated investment in an East Palo Alto residential real estate development that has gone bust–at a loss to CalPERS of all of its $100 million stake in the controversial venture. FAC, a nonprofit based in San Rafael, CA, filed suit Friday in San Francisco Superior Court, demanding

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