News & Opinion

The ACLU is demanding that the Department of Defense change training materials that the ACLU says equates activism with terrorism. –DB American Civil Liberties Union Press Release June 10, 2009 Anti-terrorism training materials currently being used by the Department of Defense (DoD) teach its personnel that free expression in the form of public protests should be regarded as “low level terrorism.” ACLU attorneys are calling the approach “an egregious insult to constitutional values” and have

Concerned about a documentary film critical of their policies, the California Costal Commission has taken the unusual step of serving a subpoena for a copy of the work in progress, a move that critics say chills freedom of expression. –DB CalAware June 11, 2009 FREE PRESS—The California Coastal Commission has served a subpoena on documentary filmmaker Richard Oshen for a copy of his unreleased work, “Sins of Commission,” a move which he fears may be

Federal court tightens administrative vice on student speech A student who challenged her principal’s authority by including religious appeals in her valedictory speech had her suit against the school district dismissed by a appeals judge in part on the grounds that the speech was a learning opportunity and given the Supreme Court precedent of in Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier subject to content review. -DB Citizen Media Law Project June 12, 2009 By Lee Baker In a

Schwarzenegger’s Calendars CFAC sued Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to obtain his calendars of meetings and those of his top aides. CFAC argued that a state Supreme Court decision sustaining a denial of access to these records was implicitly overturned by Prop 59, which the governor had championed during the election. Schwarzenegger settled, agreeing to turn over nearly all the calendars. Legal Documents Commentary In the news Legal Documents Verified Petition for Writ of Mandate Governor’s Office