North Carolina lost a case in federal court over its desire to issue license plates with a “choose life” message. The ACLU had sued citing the state’s refusal to issue a plate with the message, “respect choice.” -db From the Jurist, November 29, 2011, by Max Slater. Full story
Delaware schools and schools across the country are crafting policies to encourage responsible use of the social media but in doing so often run head on into the First Amendment. Many educators and free speech advocates see the need to educated students at an early age to the consequences of cyberbullying and other questionable uses of the social media. -db From DFMNews, November 8, 2011, by Eileen Smith Dallabrida. Full story
The Electronic Freedom Foundation sued the Department of Justice for its failure to release documents detailing its interpretation and use of Section 215 of the U.S.A. Patriot Act. The section allows the FBI to obtain a court order for “any tangible thing” related to a terrorism investigation. The EFF claims the government has been misusing the Patriot Act to investigate citizens without their knowledge. -db From the Courthouse News Service, October 27, 2011, by Maria
The Justice Department has proposed a rule change for the FOIA to allow government agencies to deny that records do not exist when they do. As it stands now the government can withhold information and issue a Glomar denial that says they neither confirm nor deny the records exist. Open government advocates say that the rule change would deliver a blow to transparency in that with the proposed rule, those seeking information would be inclined
The American Civil Liberties Union and allies lost a bid in federal court to find out who was responsible for destroying nearly 100 videotapes of interrogations in 2001 of al Qaeda leaders. The judge noted that the CIA had erred in destroying the videotapes but had since made changes to prevent the destruction of videos in the future. -db From the Courthouse News Service, October 6, 2011, by Adam Klasfeld. Full story