First Amendment News

FBI letters sent to internet service providers to obtain information about clients and subscribers came with gag orders which precluded judicial review. After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the ruling that the gag orders were unconstitutional, the Obama administration failed to meet the time limits for an appeal. The appeals court ordered the FBI to develop procedures for justifying any gag order it requests for national security letters. -DB American

When President Obama decided to withhold photos of prisoners abused in Iraq and Afghanistan, it reopened the question of whether disclosure of such information would better serve the country. New York Times reporter Adam Liptak writes that the Pentagon Papers case during the Vietnam War is instructive in determining the best course of action. -DB The New York Times Analysis May 17, 2009 By Adam Liptak WASHINGTON, D.C. — It was a hypothetical question in

Efforts to thwart “libel tourism” – the practice of suing in countries with less stringent standards for proving defamation – are gaining ground as a bill advanced that would ban enforcement of most foreign libel verdicts in California. -DB San Francisco Chronicle May 15, 2009 By Bob Egelko Legislation designed to thwart “libel tourism” – the practice of trying to silence one’s critics by suing them in England, where defamation is easier to prove than

A bill has been introduced in the Philippine legislature to protect politically active citizens from harassment law suits from powerful interests. -DB GMANews.TV May 16, 2009 MANILA, Philippines — Militant party list representatives have filed a measure seeking to prohibit the filing of lawsuits against militants to protect their right to freedom of assembly, speech and of the press. House Bill 5840 seeks to stop what the authors called a new breed of harassment suits

In the interests of safety and order in the schools, a federal appeals court dismissed a Virginia reporter’s claim that his First Amendment rights were violated when school authorities barred him from entering school grounds. -DB Richmond Times-Dispatch May 15, 2009 By Frank Green A federal appeals court yesterday ordered a suit filed by a newspaper publisher against the Buchanan County School Board to be dismissed. The publisher had alleged the board violated his First