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Successful outcome in FAC suit pulls back curtain on “deliberative process”

[…] Judge Paul Haakenson sided with FAC and Schnapf. The court held that each document had to be considered on its own and that there was no blanket exemption for supervisors' notes or preliminary drafts. "'The deliberative process privilege does not justify nondisclosure of a document merely because it was the product of an […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
August 23, 2015
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Short Takes: government email, historical police records, fee awards against requesters

BY PETER SCHEER--Despite the dysfunction in Washington, Congress occasionally surprises with a modest piece of legislation that points the way for California and many other states. So it is with a 2014 Federal Records Act amendment which addresses this question: Suppose a federal employee, using his own personal text or email account, sends a […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
January 21, 2015
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Regulators analyzing MediaNews’ acquisition…

[…] San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, Monterey Herald, and 30 Bay Area weekly newspapers, is paying a 20% premium over the price that McClatchy paid Knight-Ridder for these same publications less than two months ago. Antitrust regulators in the U.S. Justice Department, who must decide whether to go to court to try to […]

June 2, 2009
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Cases Press Release

Public Records Lawsuit Seeks Transparency at San José City Hall

[…] ways. And it cites numerous instances when the city improperly withheld a range of records, blacked out information without adequate justification and failed to conduct thorough searches for records that would shine more light on the city’s interactions with lobbyists and special interests. As an example of the city’s flagrant disregard for its transparency […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
February 3, 2022
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PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK WITH PUBLIC RECORDS

By Karl Olson It’s not unusual for newspapers, or lawyers in Public Records Act or Freedom of Information Act cases, to accuse the government of trying to "hide" things. Now a San Bernardino County case has revealed what may be a criminal attempt at hiding public records, just in time for a Fourth of […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
June 3, 2009
Latest News

Newspaper finance crisis: Nonprofit model no panacea but may be part of the answer

[…] authorizes newspapers to operate as nonprofits but clarifies that the ban on political endorsements would apply to such restructured news media. Still, if Congress can make an exemption for Major League Baseball to the anti-trust laws, it could exempt nonprofit news agencies from the prohibitions on endorsing political candidates. Whether as nonprofits or for-profits, […]

June 3, 2009
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New 1st amendment case poses existential threat to public employee unions

[…] unions comes from . . . the First Amendment. In a scarcely-noticed lawsuit filed Monday in federal district court in Los Angeles, a conservative nonprofit, the Center for Individual Rights, claims that California’s system for collecting union dues from government employees abridges free speech safeguards by compelling employees to subsidize union political advocacy and […]
- Free Expression
May 2, 2013
Cases

Court Access

First Amendment Coalition and Knock LA motion to unseal search warrant

[…] Unsealing of Warrant to Search Photojournalist and Black Lives Matters Protestors' Cell Phones (5/23/2023) Media Coalition Asks Court to Unseal Search Warrant Targeting Protesters Kept Under Seal for Two Years (9/19/2022) Blog: Unsealed: Newly released warrant reveals flimsy basis for L.A. sheriff targeting press, protesters (6/7/2023) Legal Documents: Court Order Granting Motion (11/10/2022) Petition […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
August 10, 2022
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Lies, bigoted rants and snuff videos: Why defense of free speech often entails defense of seriously unsavory characters.

[…] politician and serial liar (no redundancy intended) who claimed to have served in the Marines (a lie) and to have been awarded the nation's highest military honor for heroism in combat (another lie). He has been prosecuted under the federal "Stolen Valor Act" for the speech-crime of claiming falsely to have received the Congressional […]
- Free Expression
- Press Freedom
February 7, 2012
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Judge orders release of SF Ethics Comm’n docs, despite claim of attorney privilege

[…] that the privilege applied because the documents consisted of communications between his and the city attorney's offices. Plaintiff Allen Grossman, a San Francisco resident and long-time activist for open government, noted that Sunshine Ordinance Sec. 67.24(b)(1)(iii) establishes disclosability of city attorney's advice regarding city and state open-meetings and public-records laws and ethics codes. Though […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
November 1, 2013