First Amendment News

A group of Anaheim residents submitted a demand letter to its city council and administration for an end to what they allege are secret deliberations and negotiations over the Angel Stadium sale. (Voice of OC, January 21, 2020, by Spencer Custodio) An open government group is claiming that the Ventura City Council is failing to report the results of votes in closed sessions concerning legal action as required by the Brown Act, the state’s open

With incidents of anti-Semitism increasing in the U.S. and worldwide, President Donald Trump issued an executive order in December that many consider chilling to free speech. The order extended protection to Jews under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and included anti-Zionism in the definition of anti-Semitism. A conservative pro-Israel group, Stand With Us, wants to establish as discriminatory and even anti-Semitic opposition to Israeli government treatment of Palestinians and occupation of the

The Ninth Circuit sided with the Courthouse News Service that a court policy violated their First Amendment right to immediate access to non-confidential civil complaints. Ventura County’s policy of delaying access prompted the lawsuit. The delay for administrative reasons was two days, but the county changed to scanning which most often made the complaints available on the same day. The court ruled against the two-day delay but held that the delay with the scanning was

The ten-year-old Supreme Court ruling, Citizens United, accomplished at least one thing, an inundation of political spending, already sure to make the 2020 election the most expensive in history. Proponents of the ruling say money in elections constitutes speech. Without money no voice, but critics say with Super PACs spending unlimited amounts of money in elections, vested interests exercise undue influence. (ABC News, January 20, 2020, by Devin Dwyer) End Citizens United wants the Supreme

Brazilian prosecutors charged American journalist Glenn Greenwald with cybercrimes for hacking and disseminating cell phone messages that embarrassed prosecutors and damaged the image of the anti-corruption task force. Greenwald has been critical of Brazil’s rightist president, Jair Bolsonaro. (Reuters, January 21, 2010, by Anthony Boadle and Ricardo Brito) Greenwald said the charges were intended to attack the free press and cripple efforts to report on Brazilian corruption. Greenwald reported earlier that the Justice Minister may