First Amendment News

The National Archives admitted to censoring photos of the 2017 Women’s March to obfuscate signs with criticism of President Donald Trump. History professor Mathew Connelly calls this the latest example of “a great and growing threat to our nation’s capacity to protect and learn from history.” Connelly is concerned that the archives is now allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to destroy millions of documents chronicling their treatment of immigrants. (Democracy Now!, February 6, 2020)

McKay Coppings, The Atlantic, March 2020, writes that the Trump campaign intends to deal a death blow to fact-based journalism in the 2020 election. During the impeachment hearings, the Trump camp effectively flooded the social media with clips and videos that recast damning testimony into exoneration. Rather than shut down the opposition, autocrats are using the social media to drown out dissent. “Every presidential campaign sees its share of spin and misdirection,” writes Coppings, “but

Journalists and watchdog nonprofits are still reporting that police agencies stonewall attempts to discover how they’re using taxpayer funds to employ high tech surveillance tools. Departments routinely fend off freedom of information requests by citing the need to protect suppliers’ trade secrets or competitive positions or to avoid affecting contracts or collective bargaining. Those seeking the information say the public should know about how the tools are used to check for “algorithmic bias and threats

FBI Director Chris Wray warned that Russia is engaging in “information warfare” before the 2020 election, a covert social media campaign to plant animosity and divide Americans. He said the ever-present threat is harder to fight than election system hacking. Wray said the First Amendment prevents the FBI from tracking online lies and becoming “truth police.” (The Associated Press, February 5, 2020, by Ed Tucker) A bipartisan report from the Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed last

Although Catholic diocese in the U.S. have recently stepped up to release lists of abusers, releasing the names of over 5,800 clergy members, there are serious inconsistencies and omissions. Part of the problem is that dioceses and religious orders are in charge of releasing lists of names and determining who should be put on the lists. (ProPublica, January 18, 2020, by Lexi Churchill, Ellis Simani and Topher Sanders) John Salberg, a Catholic and teacher, East