News & Opinion

The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ordered the unsealing of a consumer safety case that a manufacturer claimed would damage its reputation and “fiscal health.” The court held that the public’s right to know outweighed the company’s concerns. (Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, April 17, 2014, by Jamie Schuman) In 2012 a federal district judge ordered the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) not to publish a product safety complaint against the manufacturer

National Security Director Jame Clapper has banned federal intelligence employees from discussing any contact with reporters even if the matter is unclassified. Those violating the rules would lose their security clearances or jobs and be prosecuted if discussing classified information. (McClatchyDC, April 21, 2014, by Jonathan S. Landay) First revealed by Steven Aftergood of Secrecy News, April 21, 2014, Clapper’s  memo requires authorization for any contact with the media and asks for reports on “unplanned

A New York federal appeals court ruled that given the federal government’s public statements and release of a white paper on the issue, it had waived its right to keep secret a Justice Department memo justifying the targeted killing of a U.S. citizen in a drone strike in 2011. The New York Times and the American Civil Liberties Union had sued for the release of the memo. (The New York Times, April 21, 2014, by

Citizens turning out in support of a rancher’s refusal to pay 20-year’s worth of grazing fees to the federal government were incensed to find that they were restricted to a free speech zone. They and free speech advocates consider the zones “an inappropriate infringement of free speech.” (Las Vegas Review-Journal, April 17, 2014, by Sean Whaley) The Bureau of Land Management soon backed down as the protesters set up outside the designated free speech zone. 

The Washington, D.C. U.S. Circuit ruled that the government could not force firms to reveal on their websites if they were using “conflict minerals” from the Congo. Militias in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have financed rape and plunder by selling gold, tantalum, tin and tungsten. The ruling upheld the regulations requiring reporting on the minerals but said the posting of the results on websites constituted unconstitutionally compelled speech. (Courthouse News Service, April 16,