First Amendment News

Citizens will be able to go online to see how federal stimulus money is spent in San Francisco. As it stands there is no requirement for transparency for money at the local level, but the City will provide information on a Website now under construction. -DB San Francisco Examiner March 23, 2009 By Brent Begin The federal government started it and the state followed suit. Now it appears that San Francisco will set up a

A dentist dodged the California anti-SLAPP law in gaining a court’s permission to continue a lawsuit against clients who had allegedly defamed her on the review site Yelp. -DB Online Media Daily March 23, 2009 By Wendy Davis A California court has ruled that dentist Yvonne Wong can continue to pursue a lawsuit against a husband and wife who allegedly panned her on the review site Yelp. Judge William Elfving of the Santa Clara County

The Central Intelligence Agency has done a commendable job of scanning declassified records into digital format but blocks access by requiring researchers to travel to the National Archives in Maryland to view the records. –DB Secrecy Federation of American Scientists March 26, 2009 WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Central Intelligence Agency maintains a regularly updated electronic archive of declassified historical records that have been publicly disclosed, but it has effectively squandered the utility of digitizing these

A majority of Supreme Court justices seemed ready to overturn or limit the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law to allow greater latitude in media appeals. The Court heard arguments about whether a documentary attacking Hillary Clinton violated the law. -DB The New York Times March 25, 2009 By Adam Liptak WASHINGTON, D.C. — A quirky case about a slashing documentary attacking Hillary Rodham Clinton would not seem to be the most obvious vehicle for a fundamental

A Republican senator is proposing a bill to allow federal trial appellate courts to permit cameras in their courtrooms. -DB The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press By Ahnalese Rushmann March 23, 2009 Cameras would be allowed in federal courtrooms, so long as a judge approves, under a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate last week. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced the “Sunshine in the Courtroom” bill, S.657, which “would allow the chief judge