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.
The First Amendment Coalition today asked a judge to unseal records in the criminal case against John Lee Cowell, the man charged in the stabbing death of teenager Nia Wilson at an Oakland BART station in 2018. FAC’s motion to unseal comes after Cowell’s attorney filed a secret motion to
The First Amendment Coalition today continued its fight for transparency in the police raid on a San Francisco journalist, filing a lawsuit over city officials’ refusal to release public records. FAC sued the San Francisco Police Department and Mayor London Breed under the California Public Records Act and San Francisco
A San Francisco judge yesterday ordered police to publicly release sealed documents relating to a search warrant executed on freelance journalist Bryan Carmody, whose home and office were raided by SFPD in an unlawful show of force that shocked journalists and free-press advocates across the country. The order, the result
A coalition of media groups led by the First Amendment Coalition has prevailed in the latest battle in the expanding legal fight over California’s landmark police transparency bill, Senate Bill 1421. On Friday, Judge Charles Treat of the Contra Costa County Superior Court denied a preliminary injunction sought by police
A coalition of media groups led by the First Amendment Coalition (FAC) today filed court papers challenging yet another attempt by a police union to undermine a new, landmark police transparency law in California—this time in Los Angeles County. The law (SB 1421), which went into effect on Jan. 1,
Nearly 300 pages of previously secret documents became public yesterday after the First Amendment Coalition (FAC) filed a motion to unseal records regarding Gov. Jerry Brown’s effort to pardon former state Sen. Rod Wright. The documents—some still heavily redacted—had been originally filed under seal as part of a flawed, longstanding practice