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Cases Press Release

FAC Urges Court to Block Fresno Ordinance, Citing First Amendment Concerns

[…] important role in documenting the government’s treatment of homeless people, FAC's brief says UPDATE May 24, 2022: A federal judge, citing First Amendment problems, granted plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the ordinance at issue in the case. Read the order. The First Amendment Coalition today filed an amicus brief urging […]
- Press Freedom
April 12, 2022
Latest News

Cases

FAC sues LA council over destroyed public records

[…] new lawsuit filed by the First Amendment Coalition against Los Angeles highlights local governments’ all-too-common---and illegal---practice of destroying public records. The suit, filed Thursday in Superior Court for Los Angeles County, focuses on documents that went missing when a termed-out council member, Tom LaBonge, left office in 2015. Thousands of documents about city business---"public […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
August 26, 2016
Latest News

Cases Press Release

FAC Moves—Again—To Unseal Records From CA Supreme Court “Secret Docket”

[…] prevents the public from seeing a crucial aspect of criminal justice in this state." FAC’s motion does not question that the woman, Susan H. Burton, is eligible for a pardon. The motion rather challenges the practice of automatically sealing pardon-request records–a practice that clearly violates California law. Under the California Rules of Court, the […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
May 11, 2019
Latest News

Cases Press Release

FAC Moves to Unseal Search Warrants in Illegal Police Raid on SF Journalist

The First Amendment Coalition (FAC) today filed a motion to unseal the San Francisco Police Department’s applications for two search warrants in the case of journalist Bryan Carmody, whose home and office police raided last week,sparking national outrage from press advocates, civil libertarians and many others. Why two judges authorized those warrants—which appear to […]
- Press Freedom
May 17, 2019
Latest News

Blog

FAC lawsuit leads to model CPRA policy for dot-gov email

[…] the right to petition, that right has never been seen as requiring confidentiality in communications with government. Auburn's email policy would be improved by either removing this exemption or, as a compromise, requiring disclosure of council members' communications with persons or firms having business before the City Council. The San Jose and Auburn policies […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
December 23, 2012
Latest News

FAC News Press Release

FAC Honors Open Vallejo, Kaiser Health News, and The Maine Monitor with Annual Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 27, 2023 Contact: [email protected] SAN RAFAEL – The First Amendment Coalition is pleased to announce the winners of its 2022 Free Speech and Open Government Award: three journalists who strategically used public records to expose government misconduct and failures of accountability. Some of this work resulted in significant government […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
February 27, 2023
Latest News

Cases Press Release

FAC Helps Defeat Effort by School District to Recover Nearly $500K in Attorneys Fees From Records Requester

[…] attempt to argue Ms. Brazil had done. FAC and the ACLU were joined in their amicus brief by Californians Aware, the California News Publishers Association, the Center for Investigative Reporting, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Los Angeles Times and the McClatchy Company. Here's yesterday’s order And the briefing filed by FAC and the ACLU […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
April 11, 2018
Latest News

Cases Press Release

FAC Fights Secret Hearings in Death Penalty Case

Motion by lawyers for Armando Cruz, charged in rape and murder of 13-year-old Bakersfield girl, seeks to block press and public from all pretrial hearings The First Amendment Coalition is fighting to ensure hearings in a Bakersfield death penalty case remain open to the press and public. FAC’s brief, now on file in Kern […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
September 28, 2020
Latest News

Press Release

CFAC, scholars sue CA State Bar for access to records on affirmative action

[…] today of a lawsuit against the State Bar of California to force it to disclose years of statistical records on bar exam results. The records are sought for an academic research project that will test the controversial theory that affirmative action policies at law schools harm the very minority students they are intended to […]

June 3, 2009
Latest News

Cases

CFAC files brief to lift gag in BART homicide case

[…] a Superior Court judge in Oakland to rescind his gag order in the highly publicized prosecution of a former BART police officer who is charged with murder for the shooting death--captured on numerous cellphone videos uploaded to Youtube--of Oscar Grant III on New Year's Day. The Coalition's brief, written by Keker & Van Nest […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
June 3, 2009