First Amendment News

Journalists assigned to the Pentagon complained recently about lack of access to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, only to be told they were filing inaccurate reports. Pentagon press spokesperson Dana White also told reporters they were being watched. Reporters are convinced the Pentagon is restricting access for individual reporters for filing stories they don’t like. (Politico, August 16, 2018, by Jason Schwartz) Journalists complained last year that Defense Secretary James Mattis was cutting back on coverage

First Amendment Coalition board member Quentin Kopp filed a lawsuit against the Secret Service for stalling on honoring his Freedom of Information Act request for costs of Secret Service protection for Donald Trump Jr. during a private business trip to India. (San Francisco Chronicle, August 14, 2018, by Dominic Fracassa) The Secret Service claimed the request was too broad and asked Kopp to limit the request to specific records. Kopp said that was establishing a

A private prison company is lashing out at a Florida protest group for its opposition to the company for profiting by its government contracts to lock up undocumented immigrants. The GEO Group claims the Dream Defenders had made defamatory statements, interfered with its government  contracts, disrupted its operations and encouraged threatening and violent behavior. (American Civil Liberties Union, August 10, 2018, by Jacob J. Hutt) GEO sent a cease and desist letter to Dream Defenders

A Georgetown professor filed a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) brief arguing that the public should not have to bring a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to pry documents from the FISC. There should instead be a presumption of public access. the public should be able to monitor the FISC, its legal procedures, issues and actions the same way it has access to any federal court. Redaction can be tailored to true national security issues

The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found a Lousiana law criminalizing threats against public officials was an unconstitutional restriction on free speech rights. Police officers had arrested two men for threats to get them fired. “To be sure, it [the Louisiana law] covers a large swath of unprotected speech,” wrote the judge for the majority,  “including true threats and core criminal speech, such as extortion and threats to engage in truly defamatory speech made