First Amendment News

A former Baltimore Sun crime reporter returned to the city to find that when he tried to find out details of a police shooting, he was denied, and because of deep cuts to the news staff on the Sun, there were no reporters available to follow up the story and no one to demand that the police do their job and tell what happened. Under these conditions the public’s right to know is disregarded and

Governmental agencies deny scholars access to DNA database even though the scholars can maintain the anonymity of the DNA subjects. Access is crucial to projects studying the effectiveness of DNA matches in criminal cases. -DB San Francisco Chronicle By Erin Murphy Feb. 24, 2009 Since 1998, the government has overseen the aggregation of a national DNA database that now includes 6.5 million profiles. The database includes material from both criminal offenders and innocents sampled in

With the burden of proof on defendants in British libel cases, small newspapers are paying out thousands in libel judgments making it difficult for them to survive. Britain is also a destination for wealthy individuals wanting to sue writers especially American under British law. The government is now considering how to alter the law to allow full expression of free speech rights. -DB The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Feb. 25, 2009 By

In allowing a monument of the Ten Commandments to remain in a city park to the exclusion of a display by another religion, the Supreme Court held that the monument was government speech so could remain. The case now shifts to whether the monument violates the First Amendment under the establishment clause – the state should not establish religion. –DB First Amendment Center Deb. 26, 2009 By Tony Mauro WASHINGTON, D.C. — One way for

In a reversal of a ban established in 1991 by President George H.W. Bush, the Pentagon will allow photos of flag-draped caskets if families agree. Critics criticized the ban as a way to hide the costs of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. -DB The New York Times Feb. 26, 2009 By The Associated Press WASHINGTON, D.C – News organizations will be allowed to photograph the homecomings of America’s war dead under a new Pentagon policy,