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Opinion: Obama administration falls far short of transparency goals

donal brown April 18, 2012

Three lawyers with experience in litigating Freedom of Information Act cases charge that the Obama administration has performed poorly in promoting government transparency. Whereas Attorney General Eric Holder said he would only defend agencies when it was clear that disclosure was contrary to law or would cause harm, in actual practice since his pronouncement Holder has never refused to defend an agency withholding information. -db From a commentary for The National Law Journal, April 16,

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News interests want Trayvon Martin court documents unsealed

donal brown April 17, 2012

News outlets including the Miami Herald have asked a judge to unseal court documents in the Trayvon Martin murder case. The judge granted the request of George Zimmerman’s attorney to withhold court records because of the intense media interest in the case. -db From the Miami Herald, April 17, 2012, by David Ovalle, contributions by Audra Burch. Full story    

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Earth First activist close to obtaining evidence in 1990 car bombing

donal brown April 5, 2012

A new federal judge order has cleared the way for the release of evidence in a 1990 car bombing in the San Francisco Bay Area that injured two Earth First activists. The FBI had contended for a time that the two were injured by a detonation of their own bomb, and the two injured sued the FBI to obtain the evidence. -db From the Courthouse News Service, April 4, 2012, by Jonny Bonner. Full story

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FBI suffers setback in effort to bury file on 1960s informant

donal brown April 5, 2012

  The FBI lost another round Wednesday in its quest to withhold records detailing the late Memphis photographer Ernest Withers’ secret work as an informant in the 1960s. A federal judge held that the FBI made errors and lapses but also deliberate decisions that confirmed the fact that Withers was an informant, making his file eligible for release to the Memphis Commercial Appeal under the Freedom of Information Act.  -db From the Memphis Commercial Appeal,

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Opinion: Obama’s performance flawed on First Amendment issues

donal brown April 3, 2012

While pledging to become the most transparent government in history, the Obama administration has fallen far short of that lofty promise. They made some strides in releasing some files and documents  such as the torture memos but have been secretive about domestic spying. They have also been criticized for prosecuting whistleblowers under the Espionage Act and for denying lobbyists access to the administration on the stimulus bill’s allocations. -db From a commentary for the First

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