First Amendment News

The National Archives reported that the Trump administration failed to preserve social media accounts and that some of the records may not be retrievable. The archives has been working with social media companies to find missing records including Twitter messages deleted by Trump or White House staff. (Los Angeles Times, February 18, 2022, by Sarah D. Wire) The missing accounts included those for Andrew Giuliani, Chad Gilmartin, Ivanka Trump, Kayleigh McEnany, Kellyanne Conway, Mark Meadows

State legislators are proposing laws to alter the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law, to meet changing circumstances. Assembly Bill 1944 would require a remote participation option for city council, commission and school board meetings. (Patch, February 18, 2022, by Eric He) Senate Bill 1100 changes the Brown Act to establish a more precise definition of the provision to remove citizens for “willfully interrupting” a public meeting. The new wording would define disruption as

Law professor David A. Logan said as the U.S. Supreme Court considers their options in addressing Times v. Sullivan, they might be more likely to take up a case involving definitions of a public figure, specifically a lessor known individual than Sarah Palin. (The New York Times, February 16, 2022, by Jeremy W. Peters) Law professor Eugene Volokh, Reason, February 15, 2022, writes that the U.S. Supreme Court is unlikely to take the Palin case

The CPJ addressed a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice asking them to abandon the practice of forcing news agencies to register as “foreign agents.” The letter noted alarming inconsistencies in the practice but said it was asking for ending the practice rather than making it fair. The CPJ argued that the practice hampered news outlets in reporting the news and encouraged foreign governments to apply the same practice to news outlets funded within