Search

Categories

Total Results

No Record Found

View All Results
DONATE

First Amendment News

Obama administration takes serious step toward changing culture of secrecy in government agencies

donal brown December 8, 2009

The Obama administration issued a directive for federal agencies to establish mandatory new information disclosure procedures and opportunities for public participation. -DB Secrecy News Federation of American Scientists Commentary December 8, 2009 By Steven Aftergood In a conscious and far-reaching attempt to change the culture of secrecy that prevails within many government agencies, the Obama Administration today issued a directive (pdf) that orders each federal agency to establish an open government program with mandatory new

Read More »

Reprimands of faculty in campus protest over budget cuts raises serious First Amendment issues

donal brown December 8, 2009

A rally over budget cuts held in a tiny free speech patio at Southwestern College spilled out onto the larger campus, bringing student and faculty protesters into a confrontation with police and garnering reprimands for three faculty members. Some question whether the school administration can under the Constitution make the vast majority of campus a non-public forum. -DB FIRE Foundation for Individual Rights in Education Opinion December 4, 2009 By Peter Bonilla A batch of articles

Read More »

Supreme Court to hear case on right of Christian group on University of California campus to exclude nonbelievers

donal brown December 8, 2009

The Christian Legal Society at UC California’s Hastings College of Law requires members to share their religious views. The Supreme Court will decide if the school can require the group to open its doors to gays, lesbians and non-Christians. -DB San Francisco Chronicle December 8, 2009 By Demian Bulwa SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether UC Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco can refuse to recognize and fund a Christian

Read More »

Federal workshop on open government meets behind closed doors

donal brown December 7, 2009

The Obama administration’s workshop on government openness for federal employees met behind closed doors. The workshop provided training for freedom-of-information officials. -DB The Seattle Times December 7, 2009 By Sharon Theimer and Matt Apuzzo WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — The Obama administration conducted a workshop on government openness for federal employees behind closed doors Monday, a private training session for freedom-of-information officials to learn about a new U.S. office that settle disputes between the bureaucracy and the

Read More »

Government worker fired for criticism unrelated to his job of Guantanamo military commissions

donal brown December 7, 2009

Col. Morris Davis, former prosecutor for the Guantanamo military commissions, was fired from the Congressional Research Service after he wrote opinion pieces critical of the commissions that appeared in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. -DB American Civil Liberties Union Opinion December 4, 2009 By Rachel Myers The ACLU sent a letter to the Library of Congress and the Congressional Research Service (CRS) December 4 on behalf of Col. Morris Davis, former chief

Read More »