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Coalition News

FAC Attorneys Awarded $100k for Public Records Win

FAC October 23, 2018

A Santa Clara Superior Court judge has awarded nearly $100,000 in attorneys fees to lawyers representing the First Amendment Coalition (FAC) in its successful California Public Records Act lawsuit against the city of Milpitas. Recognizing that FAC’s suit promoted a “significant public interest…in understanding whether high-ranking city officials were acting improperly,” Judge Sunil R. Kulkarni ordered Milpitas to pay the organization’s  lawyers over $92,000 in attorneys fees and $1,260 in court costs. Former city manager

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Amici Briefs Digest – Sept. 2018

FAC September 20, 2018

Here are amicus briefs and/or letters FAC has either authored or joined since March, 2018: FAC Authored Amici ACLU 9th Circuit Appeal.  On August 3, we filed an amicus brief in support of the ACLU of Northern California’s appeal of an adverse Privacy Act ruling against their clients, two editors of the website antiwar.com.  Our amicus brief argues, in essence, that the lower court’s ruling would open the door to the FBI broadly collecting information

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FAC Sues DOJ Over Trump Administration’s Secret Collection of Journalist’s Records

FAC September 19, 2018

The First Amendment Coalition (FAC) today sued the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to force the department to disclose records relating to the government’s seizure of confidential telephone and email records from New York Times reporter Ali Watkins. The suit, filed today in federal court in San Francisco under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), seeks memos, emails or other documents that would shed light on why the DOJ collected Watkins’ records for months secretly,

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FAC Seeks Nominations for 2018 Free Speech & Open Government Award

FAC August 15, 2018

The First Amendment Coalition is soliciting nominees for the FAC Free Speech & Open Government Award, given each year for performance of exemplary work in the arena of open government. Qualifications for the award are outstanding accomplishment, service or other contributions to “the people’s right to know” about government. The winner, or winners, could be a journalist, blogger, lawyer, news organization (print or digital), software developer or community activist. We wish to recognize an individual

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FAC Urges Ninth Circuit to Protect Journalists Who Publish Sensitive Government Information

FAC August 6, 2018

The First Amendment Coalition (FAC) on Friday filed a “friend of court” brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, urging that court to reverse a federal district court ruling that jeopardizes important First Amendment protections for journalists who publish sensitive or classified government information. The lower court dismissed claims by the ACLU that the FBI violated the federal Privacy Act by opening a “threat assessment” — the precursor to a criminal investigation — on

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