First Amendment News

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unleashed an attack on the Associated Press for what it said was a misleading story on its failure to monitor toxic dump sites in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. The EPA did not reference an inaccuracies in the story but objected that the story omitted mention of EPA efforts to put a team into Houston to work with local and state officials to watch the Superfund sites. (Politico, September 3,

A federal judge ruled that Utah could not cancel a liquor license of a movie theater for showing “Deadpool,” an R-rated movie with sexual conduct. The theater argued that the ban was a violation of their First Amendment rights. (Fox 13 Now, August 31, 2017, by Ben Winslow) The Utah attorney general is considering an appeal to Denver’s 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals while Republican leaders in the legislature are meeting to decide if

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the CIA must honor Freedom of Information Act requests for records, in this case for records on CIA engagement in torture. The CIA had contended that they were not bound to respond to records requests. (ShadowProof, August 29, 2017, by Kevin Gosztola) The court found that the district court should not have interpreted the request for records as a question rather than a request for records

Los Angeles County will no longer be able to hide records of license plates collected from citizens of all stripes that they claimed were investigative records. The California Supreme Court sided with the ACLU and EFF that the automated scanning of license plates were not tied to any particular crime so could not be kept secret as part of a criminal investigation. To protect drivers’ privacy, the trial court will determine how the data is

The people of Crosby, Texas have been told to evacuate if living within a mile radius of the Arkema Inc. chemical plant fire. Residents outside the radius have been instructed to remain indoors with windows shut and turn off air conditioners to avoid breathing the smoke, but Texas authorities prevented the residents from knowing the chemicals and products of such plants. State law enables the industry to evade telling the public about the explosive and