First Amendment News

Open government group asks secretary of health to come clean on mistakes concerning swine flu vaccines

The Project on Government Oversight is calling for transparency in the H1N1 vaccine program to discover why there is  a shortage of vaccine. -DB Project on Government Oversight November 2, 2009 By Bryan Rahija Last Friday, POGO renewed its calls for transparency in the government’s H1N1 vaccine program. In a letter sent to Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, we urged the Secretary to make public several aspects of the program,

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Indiana high School students sue after school imposed penalties for posting racy photos on internet

Two sophomores from an Indiana high school were barred from afterschool sports for the 2009-2010 school year when the administration objected to sexually provocative images of themselves the girls posted on MySpace. The American Civil Liberties Union is filing a suit against the school, arguing that the posting was not disruptive and therefore violated the students’ First Amendment rights. The students apologized and have been reinstated for the fall sports season. Tech Herald contributor Steve

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Groups for sealing Tennessee handgun database ask for the records

The Tennessean November 3, 2009 By Erik Schelzig Associated Press Even though Republicans have opposed releasing records of Tennessee handgun permit holders, the state Republican party and a company doing campaign work for the Republicans have both requested the records. Open government advocates are seeking the records to determine if the state is properly denying permits to those not allowed handguns. -DB

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FBI releases former Vice President Cheney’s interview on outing of CIA agent

The transcript of Dick Cheney’s FBI interview on the Valerie Plame incident was released to the public last week. Both the Bush or Obama administrations tried to keep the transcript secret. -DB Reporters Committee on Freedom of the Press November 2, 2009 By Amanda Becker The FBI released documents under court order Friday that show former Vice President Dick Cheney’s recollection is fuzzy on his involvement in the exposure of an undercover CIA operative in

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ACLU gets more records about Bush administration’s interrogation of detainees

The federal government handed over to the American Civil Liberties Union more documents requested through the Freedom of Information Act lawsuits. The documents pertained to the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody overseas. -DB American Civil Liberties Union Press Release October 30, 2009 NEW YORK – The government today handed over to the American Civil Liberties Union numerous documents in response to two ACLU Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits for information related to the

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