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Advocacy Blog

Pardon Power and Your Right to Know

[…] grants. What we learned from that high-profile pardon was that the process surrounding these decisions is highly secretive. That’s because the court records generated when the governor recommends clemency for those twice convicted of felonies — a specific category of people whose applications are subject to oversight by the California Supreme Court — have been routinely […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
September 18, 2021
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Blog

One judge’s brilliant (and hilarious) rejoinder to lawyers trying to cut off public access to court documents

[…] displeasure with the practice of over-sealing documents and information in the official record of court cases. Judge Breyer (whose brother is Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer) has presided for several years over a shareholders’ lawsuit against Hewlett-Packard concerning the company’s ill-fated acquisition of a British software company that turned out to be worth billions less […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
August 25, 2015
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Obama should just say ‘No’ to aides who, worried about FOIA, say he must give up beloved Blackberry

[…] earning him considerable capital with the news media. Moreover, the contrast with Capitol Hill secrecy could be used to put pressure on Congress to repeal its indefensible exemption from the FOIA. Shame can be a powerful incentive for reform. As addictions go, Obama’s Blackberry dependence is a pretty good one. Let’s hope he stays […]

June 3, 2009
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Blog

New ruling in FAC case opens door to release of state bar records needed for affirmative action research

[…] Bar applicants are subject to a "common law" right of public access which, following further proceedings, could result in their disclosure--stripped of all names and identifying information-- for academic research into the effects of affirmative action policies. The decision, in a lawsuit filed by UCLA Professor Richard Sander and the First Amendment Coalition, an […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
June 10, 2011
Latest News

FAC News Press Release

MuckRock, The New York Times, Bloomberg, and the North Coast Journal Honored with FAC’s Free Speech and Open Government Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: [email protected] SAN RAFAEL — The First Amendment Coalition is pleased to announce the winners of its 2023 Free Speech and Open Government Award: Thadeus Greenson of the North Coast Journal; Al-Amyn Sumar and David McCabe of The New York Times and Leah Nylen of Bloomberg; and nonprofit, collaborative news […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
- Press Freedom
February 26, 2024
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Cases Press Release

Los Angeles Settles Suit Filed By FAC, Agrees to Retain City Records For At Least Two Years

The city of Los Angeles has agreed it must retain city records for at least two years as part of a settlement agreement reached today with the First Amendment Coalition--a victory for transparency and government accountability in the nation’s second-largest city, and an assurance that the public will have the access to city records […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
September 20, 2017
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Blog

Leading gubernatorial candidates Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown need to show voters, by their own actions, that they are committed to transparency in government. Promises won’t cut it.

[…] are closed off for only 12 years). Brown's pledge of government transparency can't be taken seriously as long as he continues to invoke the Public Records Act's exemption for his gubernatorial records--records which were public while he was governor, which were paid for by taxpayers, and which are now more than 27 years old. […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
March 9, 2010
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Cases Press Release

Kern County Superior Court Rescinds Public Access Ban

The Kern County Superior Court has rescinded a problematic order used for months to block people from entering its courthouses, an important step in restoring the public’s First Amendment right of access to hearings and trials in one of California’s largest metropolitan areas. Court officials in Bakersfield issued a new court order explicitly stating […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
July 15, 2020
Cases

Public Records

Shelton v. Napa Valley Unified School District

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.
- Government Transparency and Accountability
July 8, 2024
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Blog

How to sabotage California’s Public Records Act

By Peter Scheer—If you were looking for a way to sabotage America's freedom-of-information laws, you couldn't do much better than a legal strategy being pursued by government entities in two California towns. The public school district of Willows, in Glenn County, and the town of Sebastopol, near Petaluma, have been sued, in unrelated cases, […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
October 15, 2012