FAC conducts a program of strategic litigation by initiating “test case” lawsuits to resolve key legal issues in a way that maximizes chances for a favorable outcome, with potentially far-reaching effects.
On July 2, 2024, Jose Antonio Garcia, an Oakland-based reporter for The Oaklandside, sued Alameda County in federal court over its Ordinance 2023-31, which criminalizes merely being present within 200 feet of a “sideshow” for the purpose of observing it. This law has prevented Garcia, who writes using another family
The law prevents Jose Fermoso of Oaklandside from covering sideshows as a newsworthy public safety issue, and is a violation of his First Amendment rights.
If published, the opinion could be relied upon as precedent when similar anti-harassment law cases come before the court.
On May 8, 2024, the First Amendment Coalition 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. A reverse CPRA lawsuit seeks
On April 23, 2024, Elizabeth Wilson, a student journalist at Mustang News, the student paper at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), sued the university for violating the California Public Records Act by refusing to disclose public records she requested more than 18 months ago. Wilson made
Upneet Dhaliwal and Julie Geary sued the Temecula Valley Unified School District, its Board of Trustees, and its president, Joseph Komrosky, for violating their rights under the First Amendment and California law by ejecting them from school board meetings without cause.