Search

Categories

Total Results

No Record Found

View All Results
DONATE

News & Opinion

Republicans in House of Representatives nix courtroom cameras in gay benefits trial

donal brown September 15, 2011

In a lawsuit brought by a woman seeking family insurance coverage for her partner, Republicans in the House of Representatives vetoed the judge’s proposal to allow videos of the arguments. The House Republicans entered the case after the Obama administration ended the Justice Department support of the Defense of Marriage Act, a law that denies benefits to gay spouses. -db From the San Francisco Chronicle, September 13, 2011, by Bob Egelko. Full story

Read More »

Minnesota decision shreds truth as a defense in libel

donal brown September 15, 2011

The Minnesota District Court has upheld a $60,000 claim against a blogger who posted truthful information about a man that contributed to the man’s losing his job.The court ruled that the blogger had interfered with the man’s contractual arrangements with his employer. Itai Maytal argues for the Citizen Media Law Project, “The Supreme Court has made clear that otherwise protected speech does not lose its protection even if it leads to economic harm or interferes

Read More »

Man denied entry to U.S. possibly for ideological reasons

donal brown September 15, 2011

The ACLU is protesting the delay in granting Kerim Yildiz, a British citizen, a visa to travel to the U.S. at the invitation of the Open Society Foundations and the Patricia Gruber Foundation. The ACLU is concerned that Yildiz has been denied entry because of his work on human rights for Kurds. -db From the American Civil Liberties Union, September 15, 2011, by Suzanne Ito. Full story

Read More »

Opinion: Life after Righthaven shows promise

donal brown September 15, 2011

Commentators for the Electronic Freedom Foundation, Rainey Reitman and Kurt Opsahl, write that in the ashes of Righthaven’s attempt to capitalize on copyright infringement of newspaper articles, there is hope for a new world of free expression. The commentators commend Digital First Media for its advocacy of open sharing of content. -db From the Electronic Freedom Foundation, September 12, 2011, by Rainey Reitman and Kurt Opsahl. Full story

Read More »

Federal court body urges opening more civil lawsuits to public

donal brown September 15, 2011

With the federal courts putting 576 of 245,326 civil cases under seal in 2006, the Judicial Conference, a body of senior circuit court judges that suggests rules for federal courts, recommended that the judges limit the cases under seal. The conference found that the courts had not used strict standards in deciding when to seal cases and that procedures for sealing cases varied across the country. -db From The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the

Read More »