News & Opinion

The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) exercises immense influence in the executive branch, but its opinions rarely enter the public domain. The Knight Institute and the Campaign for Accountability are using the courts to get the OLC to comply with the Freedom Of Information Act provision for “reading room,” requiring government agencies to disclose final legal opinions. They are requesting the release of twenty five -year-old opinions. the Knight Institute has also created

A report by The New York Times about intercepted radio transmissions from Russian soldiers demonstrates how investigative reporters are using open-source reporting, satellite images, mobile phone or security camera recordings and other internet tools to report the news. (TVN, May 9, 2022, by David Bauder of The Associated Press) Open source journalism allows reporters to access user-produced content on the web to find stories and supporting visual evidence. The process allows greater transparency in making

The conservative One America News Network finally admitted that there was no voter fraud by Georgia elections workers during the 2020 presidential election. The admission was part of a settlement of a defamation lawsuit two election workers filed against the network. The two workers had suffered in person and online harassment. (Daily Beast, May 10, 2022, by William Vaillancourt) The workers also sued Rudy Giuliani and The Gateway Pundit on similar grounds. Last year, election

Chief Justice John Roberts ordered the court marshal to investigate the breach of security that led to the publication of the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. But true to course, Roberts offered no details about the workings of the investigation, the legality of the leak or possible punishments for the leaker or leakers. (The New York Times, May 4, 2022, by Michael D. Shear and Zolan Kanno-Youngs with contributions by Glenn Thrush) While conservatives