The Supreme Court will decide if Colorado’s public accommodation law banning discrimination against gays violates the First Amendment. A woman who wants to start a business for wedding websites is asking the courts to rule that she can reject business from same-sex couples. Mark Joseph Stern in Slate, February 22, 2022, notes that heretofore the Supreme Court has rejected the idea that civil rights laws compelled expression. “It has instead described such measures as regulations

The Fourth District appeals court ruled that the public had the right to the records of private immigrant detention centers in California. Immigration lawyers cited the Public Records Act in seeking records of a facility in Imperial County where 680 immigrants were held under decent conditions but without mental health services or much access to legal aid. For related FAC coverage, click here and here.

Journalists won an important settlement with Minnesota in a lawsuit initiated by journalists injured or harassed during protests over police killings of George Floyd and Daunte Wright. The state will pay $825,000 in damages to journalists assaulted and injured and agreed to change several policies. Minnesota will submit to independent review of complaints of mistreatment of the press and issue body camera to all troopers. (The Associated Press, February 9, 2022) The judge issued a

Journalist Jeremy Portje sued the city of Sausalito and its police department after he was injured videotaping police interaction with the homeless. Portje said the police gave no warnings or asked him to move back. (ABC30, February 22, 2022, by Liz Kreutz) The Marin County Attorney investigated the incident and declined to prosecute Portje after the police said he swung a camera in an officer’s face, giving him a black eye and a small cut.