Cases

FAC represents Jose Fermoso, a reporter for The Oaklandside, in a challenge to Alameda County’s sideshow spectator ordinance that criminalizes journalism by making it unlawful to observe a sideshow from any closer than 200 feet.

With the ACLU of Northern California, FAC sued the City of Fresno for holding secret budget negotiations in violation of the Brown Act, California’s open meetings law for local governments.

Representing freelance reporter Holly McDede, FAC filed a motion to intervene in Shelton v. Napa Valley Unified School District, a “reverse CPRA” lawsuit that seeks to prevent the release of public records regarding a former public school teacher’s alleged sexual abuse of students.

FAC joined freelance journalist Victoria Law, nonprofit news organization The Appeal, and the ACLU of Northern California in moving to unseal court records and preserve public access to hearings in the landmark class action lawsuit that survivors of sexual assault at FCI Dublin brought against the federal Bureau of Prisons in 2023. CLOSED

FAC represents student journalist Elizabeth Wilson, who sued Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for violating the California Public Records Act by refusing to disclose public records for more than 18 months. CLOSED

FAC filed an amicus brief to defend longstanding Ninth Circuit precedent that the denial of an anti-SLAPP motion in federal court is subject to immediate appeal, as it is in state court, rather than at the end of the case, which is typical in federal court. CLOSED