First Amendment News

San Francisco police raided a reporter’s home in search of the source of a leaked police report with details on the death of Public Defender Jeff Adachi. The police said they had obtained search warrants for the raid, but FAC’s David Snyder said the warrants were illegal in violating California’s shield law.  (San Jose Mercury News, May 13. 2019, by Erin Baldassari and Nico Savidge) The freelance journalist, Bryan Carmody, said the police handcuffed him for

A recent survey revealed that colleges students value inclusivity in society almost equally with free speech. With a sampling of 4,407 students, the survey found that 58 percent of those polled are against restricting free speech, but 41 percent said that hate speech should not be protected under the First Amendment.  (The Progressive Pulse, May 13, 2019, by Joe Killian) Fifty-three percent said they favored free speech rights above all with 46 percent valued inclusivity

Government officials who create social media sites to connect with their constituents but censor the comments of critics are finding federal courts frown on the practice. A New York court ruled that President Donald Trump violated free speech rights by blocking his detractors from his Twitter account. The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in January that when an official created a Facebook page for her office, she could not delete the comment of

A federal district judge ordered the Trump administration to produce e-mails from the short-lived commission created to expose voter fraud. The judge rejected the government argument that they were only required under the Freedom of Information Act to search commission records and not private e-mail accounts. “In an environment of widespread use of personal devices for official work,” wrote the judge,  “there is danger of an incentive to shunt critical and sensitive communication away from official channels

The National Rifle Association (NRA) is contesting a Los Angeles law requiring companies contracting with the city to reveal any ties to the NRA. The lawsuit includes a John Doe with a city contract fearful of losing it.  The city council claims citizens should know if their taxes are going to companies with ties to the NRA since the NRA blocks sensible gun safety reform. (Los Angeles Times, April 24, 2019, by Dakota Smith) The