First Amendment News

In an extensive analysis, Gabe Rottman of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, addresses the U.S. government’s indictment of WikiLeaks Julian Assange for conspiring to violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a law criminalizing hacking. In Part I, Rottman writes that the government is hinging the case on password cracking to avoid a freedom of information focus, yet the language of the indictment addresses the publication of classified information. “For instance, writes Rottman,

A retired admiral complains that the Department of Defense has not held a press briefing in over 300 days, leaving the public in the dark about how they are spending some $700 billion in taxpayer money. Retired Admiral James Stavridis, April 16, 2019, Time Magazine, argues that the Pentagon needs the press to convey their message in showcasing U.S. military power and “to be cautious and judicious in wielding the tremendous power they hold.” Even after

California Republican Representative Devin Nunes is suing the McClatchy newspaper chain for an article in the Fresno Bee, he claims as “character assassination” for its description of  a lawsuit by a server on a 2015 San Francisco Bay fund-raising cruise paid for a winery partly owned by Nunes. The server said the cruise included drugs and prostitution. Nunes filed the suit without giving an interview to the newspaper as they were reporting the story, challenging

The American Civil Liberties Union is backing a homelessness task force in filing a lawsuit that claims the Orange County Board of Supervisors is illegally restricting speech at meetings and access to public documents. The ACLU accuses the board of being the least transparent government agency in California and that their conduct during public comment sections of meetings is particularly egregious. (Los Angeles Times, April 9, 2019, by Alejandra Reyes-Velarde) Norberto Santana Jr. of the Voice

Five former military and intelligence officials are suing the Trump administration claiming the government’s prepublication review system restricts their First Amendment rights. The lawsuit says those reviewing publications have too much power that they use to eliminate criticism of the  government while they speedily approve favorable memoirs by retired senior officials. (The New York Times, April 2, 2019, by Charlie Savage) The CIA and National Security Agency censor for “any legitimate government interest” and do