First Amendment News

A bill to strengthen the Brown Act, California’s open government law is proceeding in the state legislature. The bill adds to the reasons a district attorney or citizen can petition to void a government act for failure to provide adequate opportunity for public participation. It also provides for higher fines for public officials who try to prevent public access. (Cal Watchdog, January 16, 2014, by Katy Grimes) Several local agencies in California have been charged

The Obama administration has changed its rules on how much Internet companies can tell their customers about the National Security Agency’s invasion of their personal information. The new rules allow the public to know the frequency with which the government seeks their information but still block disclosures of the content of the surveillance or how much information is collected.  The change of rules ends the lawsuit brought by Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Microsoft. (The New

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on January 21 on a lawsuit brought by Illinois homecare workers who want to avoid paying union fees for collective bargaining when they don’t want to belong to the union. the nonunion members pay a smaller agency fee to cover collective bargaining and are not forced to pay for other activities and policies that they may not support. The workers claimed that the agency fee still violates their First

The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled for a blogger in a defamation case, stating that First Amendment protected bloggers as well as reporters for traditional news outlets. The blogger, Crystal Cox, had accused a firm dispensing financial advice of fraud, corruption and bribery. (The Los Angeles Times, January 17, 2014, by Maura Dolan) Eugene Volokh, who represented Cox, hailed the decision for reaffirming that First Amendment protections extend to “all who speak to

Forced arbitration is favored by some as an alternative to costly class action lawsuits, but a federal agency report shows that private contracts with fine print sections requiring people to take complaints to arbitrators do not adequately serve the interests of consumers. Conducted in secrecy, forced arbitration cases are resolved overwhelmingly in favor of business interests at the expense of consumers. (Media Matters, December 16, 2014, by Meagan Hatcher-Mays) In California, in spite of a