First Amendment News

Eric Holder says if he is confirmed as Attorney General, he will review current court cases challenging the Bush administration’s use of the state secrets privilege to make sure the secrecy designations are appropriate. -DB Secrecy News Federation of American Scientists Feb. 2, 2009 Attorney General-nominee Eric H. Holder, Jr. said that, if confirmed, he will review current litigation in which the Bush Administration has asserted the state secrets privilege and that he will seek

A panel at the American University law school agreed that it would take Obama some time to establish transparency. The administration got high marks on granting access to the activities of the transition team, but many obstacles remain including an outmoded computer system. -DB The Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press Jan. 30, 2009 By Hannah Bergman The Obama administration is striving for a more transparent government but faces a number of practical

A Slate writer praises Obama’s efforts to resurrect the Freedom of Information Act, but the next step is to improve government record keeping so government workers can actually find the documents requested by reporters and others. -DB Slate Jan. 29, 2009, at 1:28 PM ET By Fred Kaplan President Barack Obama’s decision last week to revive the Freedom of Information Act was a good first step toward fulfilling his campaign pledge for a “new era

Backers of California’s Proposition 8, the November ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage, failed to persuade a federal judge that the names of campaign contributors should not be public, the San Francisco Chronicle said. Prop. 8 supporters say they will appeal. — DR Prop. 8 campaign can’t hide donors’ names Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, January 30, 2009 (01-30) 04:00 PST Sacramento – — Proposition 8 proponents’ complaint that a California campaign-finance disclosure law

The Bay Area Rapid Transit District’s investigation into the shooting death of a passenger has been marked by a failure to “provide basic and important information about the case to the public, even while promising transparency,” the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Many of the details have come instead from a lawyer for the dead man’s family and from amateur videos taken on the railroad platform and distributed by television and the Internet. — DR BART’s