Peter Scheer

The US Supreme Court has declined to review a lower court order directing New York Times journalist James Risen to testify about his confidential sources for reporting on secret US efforts to undermine Iran’s nuclear program. Be thankful that the Court took a pass. Although the First Amendment Coalition  joined a legal brief urging the Court to hear Risen’s appeal, I confess to having signed on with misgivings (and fingers crossed). Not because I don’t

June has been a busy month for FAC, both legislatively and judicially. Most gratifying: California voters on June 4 approved, by a comfortable 61 percent margin, Prop 42, which amends the state constitution to fortify state open meetings and FOI laws. FAC supported and sponsored Prop 42 to end funding disputes between local governments and the state that have given local governments a legal excuse to opt out of open-government laws. Prop 42, by clarifying

The decision of Europe’s highest court ordering Google to delete, on request, search results embarrassing to private individuals, is a watershed — and not a good one — for the Internet and for freedom of speech. Not that I’m unsympathetic to the college senior whose high school bust for marijuana possession is the first thing prospective employers see when they “Google” her in a job interview. But the issue is not whether she should have

Prop 42, on the ballot for California’s June 4 election, will amend the Constitution to assure that local governments are legally bound to observe open-government requirements. If you prefer transparency to secrecy in your city government, local school board or county government, then the choice is clear: You should vote for Prop 42. Prop 42 solves a problem that has repeatedly undercut enforcement of California’s open meetings law (the Brown Act) and open records law