First Amendment News

Disputes over the enforcement of the Brown Act, the state’s open government law, occupy a prominent place in local government deliberations this December. The Valey Center-Pauma Unified School District in San Diego County is contesting a challenge to their decision to tear down historic Civilian Conservation Corps buildings put up in the Great Depression. A group of citizens claims that the district violated the Brown Act by deciding to tear down the buildings prior to

ABC and The New York Times knew that Robert Levinson was a CIA operative when he was kidnapped in Iran in 2007 but repeatedly reported that he was an independent businessman. They lied in their coverage at the request of Levinson’s family and the CIA. (Gawker, December 13, 2013, by J.K. Trotter) The Associated Press reporter who first broke the story after sitting on it for seven years said he did so with some trepidation

With the ruling by the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission and a state judge to release the 911 logs of the Newtown Sandy Hook shooting that killed 20 first graders and six school employees in December of 2012, the country is divided over the decision. (Patch.com, December 10, 2013, by Rebecca Whitnall) Gene Policinski, December 14, 2013, of the First Amendment Center, argues that there are “strong First Amendment reasons for disclosure of 911 tapes,”

Universities including Wellesley are facing tests of their commitment to academic freedom as partner universities in China impose censorship. Some hold fast considering engagement preferable to pulling out, but all fret over compromises of democratic ideals. (The New York Times, December 11, 2-013, by Tamar Lewin) In spite of Peking University’s firing of an economics professor in October presumably for speaking out in ways that upset the Communist government,  Princeton elected to expand their operations

A casual office conversation that included criticism of the new federal health care act drew a reprimand and an order to leave the Santa Clara, California  county building before making political comments. (The Daily Caller, December 8, 2013, by Eric Owens) The employee pointed out that the office was full of pro-Obama messages and that county employees wore pro-Obama apparel to work during the last presidential election. Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute emphasized