First Amendment News

Reporters recently investigating allegations of sexual abuse by a state legislator ran into the ironically labelled California Legislative Open Records Act. The act is hardly open since legislators themselves set the limits to access. (Los Angeles Times, October 29, 2017, by John Meyers) The conservative Pacific Justice Institute is challenging a decision by the Fresno Unified School District to allow the Fresno Bee to conduct a survey of students about sexual practices and sex education

Wall Street Journal reporters are complaining about opinion page coverage of the Mueller investigation of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Reporters are concerned that columns and editorials failed to grasp basic realities. Particularly irking was an editorial that called for Robert Mueller to resign saying he “lacks the critical distance to conduct a credible probe.” (Vanity Fair, November 1, 2017, by Joe Pompeo) Employees at Fox News are also chagrined

A recent study of the effect of body cameras used by police officers in Washington, D.C. showed that the cameras failed to reduce violent encounters and complaints. The movement to use body cams came after the death of unarmed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. The D.C. chief said the cameras still had unmeasured benefits in training and building community trust, but the results of the study has prompted questions about the benefits of

Private government contractors and others are evading public scrutiny by adopting a gambit known as a “reverse Public Records Act.” New Flyer, a Canadian bus manufacturer, contracted with L.A. for 900 natural gas vehicles agreeing to create 250 jobs in the U.S.  When the nonprofit Jobs to Move America suspected that New Flyer was not creating the promised jobs and sought to obtain records about the deal, New Flyer sued L.A. Metro to block the

A California legislator says she will introduce a bill in 2018 to prevent parties from agreeing to cash settlements in cases of sexual harassment, assault and discrimination. Senator Connie Leyva said the bill would make it possible to hold sexual predators responsible for their actions and prevent serial predatory acts against women by one person. (Los Angeles Times, October 19, 2017, by Melanie Mason) Leyva was prompted to introduce the bill by recent revelations of