Forty-year-old Supreme Court decision should still support free expression in schools

A First Amendment Center scholar says that the Supreme Court decision in Tinker v. Des Moines is still being ignored by public school administrators as they attempt to limit student speech and expression even though it does not cause disruption. -DB First Amendment Center Opinion November 23,2009 By David L. Hudson Jr. Forty years ago, the [...]

U.S. translations of Jihad literature not made public

U.S. government intelligence agencies are translating Jihad literature but, claiming national security concerns, are not sharing it with the public. A window into the literature opened recently when the DNI Open Source Center translated stories from an Indonesian Jihadist anthology. -DB Secrecy News Federation of American Scientists Commentary November 30, 2009 By Steven Aftergood “The only ones [...]

Supreme Court supports move to withhold photos of abused detainees

The U.S. Supreme Court vacated a decision of a federal appeals court to require the Pentagon to release photos of showing torture of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan. -DB Jurist November 30, 2009 By Jay Carmella The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday vacated and remanded a decision  by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the [...]

Courts consider distinction between hyperbole and real threat

This week two courts will hear arguments on whether particular threats should be considered the protected speech of hyperbolic rhetoric or taken as real threats. -DB First Amendment Law Prof Blog November 24, 2009 By Kathleen Bergin Upcoming trials test the boundary between ‘true threats’ and hyperbolic on-line speech The trial of Hal Turner is [...]

School denies students right to wear anti-Islam T-shirt

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing a school district in Gainesville, Florida for punishing students for wearing T-shirts promoting their religious beliefs that included anti-Islam slogans. -DB American Civil Liberties Union Opinion November 25, 2009 By Brandon Hensler Islam is of the Devil. That is the T-shirt slogan that instigated a hailstorm of debate [...]

Federal appeals court rejects free speech argument in grape growers dispute

The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that in requiring grape growers to pay assessments levied by the California Table Grape Commission for generic marketing and advertising did not violate the First Amendment. -DB Metropolitan News-Enterprise November 23, 2009 By Kenneth Ofgang A California law compelling table grape growers to pay for generic advertising [...]

News media asks Supreme Court to review rules prohibiting death row interviews

Twenty-three news organizations have asked the Supreme Court to review federal rules prohibiting in-person interviews that block inmates from informing the press of treatment and conditions. -DB Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Press Release November 25, 2009 The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press today filed a friend-of-the-court brief asking the U.S. [...]

Obama administration working to derail declassification order

The Obama administration wants to delay an order to declassify historical records at least 25 years old to allow government agencies time to review the records. -DB Secrecy News Federation of American Scientists Commentary November 23, 2009 By Steven Aftergood Development of a new executive order on classification of national security information is now proceeding at [...]

Southern California: Orange County official says Joint Powers Agreement could resolve transparency issue in fairgrounds purchase

The Orange County treasurer is recommending a Joint Powers Agreement between the county and city of Costa Mesa to buy the Orange County Fairground as the best way to guarantee transparency under the Brown Act and satisfy community concerns. -DB Daily Pilot November 20, 2009 By Mona Shadia Orange County Treasurer Chriss Street is recommending that [...]

Community forum in jeopardy over charges of anti-Semitism

The independent newspaper, the Berkeley Daily Planet, is fighting for its life as critics charge that too much of its content, letters and articles, is critical of Israel. The critics are encouraging advertisers to withdraw their ads from the Daily Planet and also maintain a Web site criticizing the newspaper for what they say is [...]

Bay Guardian reports SF police seizing DJ’s laptops

Controversial tactic of taking laptops even when DJs not charged with crime  reportedly condoned by San Francisco’s new chief of police. EEF attorney steps in to help protect DJs privacy, get computers back. San Francisco Bay Guardian Police seize DJs’ laptops New police chief apparently condones policy that critics call illegal and punitive By Joshua [...]

Wikileaks releasing 500,000 9/11 pager intercepts

Today WikiLeaks started releasing over half a million 9/11 text pager intercepts in hopes of gaining “a nuanced understanding of how this event led to death, opportunism and war.” Wikileaks 9/11 tragedy pager intercepts. From 3AM on Wednesday November 25, 2009, until 3AM the following day (US east coast time), WikiLeaks is releasing over half [...]

Sheriff who leaked opponent’s expunged record resigns

N.H. Sheriff resigns after leaking info on opponent to press while claiming he believes his action is protected by First Amendment First Amendment Center N.H. sheriff resigns amid accusations of leaking info to reporters By The Associated Press 11.25.09 CONCORD, N.H. — The Rockingham County sheriff and his top deputy resigned yesterday after being accused [...]

CIA torture tapes destroyed earlier than claimed

The ACLU Freedom of Information lawsuit surfaced evidence CIA torture tapes were destroyed immediately after the Washington Post reported the existence of the CIA black sites and the New York Times reported that the CIA Inspector General had questioned the legality of the agency’s torture program. ACLU Security/Torture November 24, 2009 Documents Reveal Date Tapes [...]

A&A:Public comments on water rates closed, item still on agenda

Q: The current City Council Agenda contains the following item: “DISCUSSION AND POTENTIAL ACTION ITEMS. Introduce and Waive the First Reading of One of the Three Ordinances Relating to Establishing Rates for Water Service Fees.” Here is the problem. We are not being allowed to comment about this item at all, even though it has [...]

A&A: City gives tax-free deal to developer, details kept secret

Q: The city recently entered into an agreement with a developer of a multi-million dollar resort hotel to forgo collecting transit occupancy taxes (TOT) of many million dollars. The city’s financial consultant analyzed the request from the developer and created several reports that were not made available to the public. The reports were presented to [...]

A&A:City wants me to pay to see report on fire at my house

Q: I just requested an incident report from the Fire Department relating to a fire at my property. They wanted to charge me $16 just to view the record, and said that they had been authorized to do so by the City Council.  Is this legal?  GovC 6253(b) authorizes charges “… of fees covering direct [...]

Court rules CIA did not violate Valerie Plame’s rights

The CIA did not violate Valerie Plame’s 1st Amendment rights the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York City (2nd Cir.) has ruled. Including dates of service in her memoir including them in her memoir would still violate the secrecy agreement she signed when she joined the CIA. Reporter’s Committee for Freedom of the Press [...]

A Patent on Podcasting? EFF thinks not

The Patent Office just granted  Volomedia exclusive rights to  “a method for providing episodic media,” creating a very real threat to the future of free podcasting.  You can help  EEF’s Patent-Busting Project crack the case. EFF’s DeepLinks Blog EFF Tackles Bogus Podcasting Patent – And We Need Your Help News Update by Rebecca Jeschke Patenting [...]

Whitehouse State Secrets privilege challenged by House bill

Calling the Bush administration’s expansion of executive privilege “the greatest threat to liberty,”  Rep. Jerrold Nadler’s  (R-NY) update of the  State Secrets Act aims to prevent its use as a “magical incantation,” to stop discovery from taking place. The Atlantic’s Politics Channel Nov 18 2009, by Marc Ambinder Will The House Play Hardball With State [...]

A&A: Access to public records denied during business hours

Q: On at least four occasions , I have gone to the Park and Recreation Department to review public records (on site, in the building) during normal business hours and I have been sent away. If at all possible, I would like to file a motion this week to force the department to allow me [...]

A&A: Councilman asks intern on date via city issued cell

Q: I have learned that a city councilman was sending text messages to a city intern, asking her for a date. I would like to file a CPR request for the text messages sent from his city issued Blackberry. I’m sure they (the councilman and the city attorney) would try to argue that such a [...]

A&A:City Surveillance Cameras and Public Records Law

Q: Are city-owned and operated surveillance camera recordings of public areas subject to disclosure in accordance with the California Public Records Law? A: Under the Public Records Act, public records — which include “any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public’s business prepared, owned, used, or retained by any state or local [...]

Medicare payment data to go onto public Web site

The Center for Medicare is planning to put up information about Medicare payments onto a Web site so that the public can track where the money is going. Some are concerned that this way of ferreting out fraud may also result in invasions of privacy. -DB NextGov November 19, 2009 By Aliya Sternstein The Obama administration [...]

Feds can’t certify accuracy of stimulus reporting data

An investigation of the government site with reports from stimulus recipients shows that much of the information is not validated and contains numerous errors. -DB Sunlight Foundation Commentary November 18, 2009 By Paul Blumenthal Recovery.gov is supposed to be a transparency clearing house for information on the federal stimulus spending appropriated in the $787 billion [...]

Alaska still freezing former Governor Sarah Palin’s e-mails

Anchorage Daily News editor Paul Jenkins says that the refusal to release the Palin’s administration’s e-mails in a timely fashion is only the most recent attempt by the Alaska state government to withhold records from the public in defiance of the state’s public records law. -DB Anchorage Daily News Opinion November 14, 2009 By Paul [...]

Law project provides legal assistance for online journalists

The Citizen Media Law Project has launched Online Media Legal Network, a new pro bono service to help online journalists and digital media creators who face legal challenges. -DB Citizen Media Law Project Press Release November 19, 2009 CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Berkman Center’s Citizen Media Law Project (CMLP) announced today the public launch of [...]

Federal judge says school’s anti-gang policy raises First Amendment issues

After a high school student’s free speech arguments were rejected by a federal district judge, a federal appeals judge said that he could bring First Amendment claims against his school for punishing him for allegedly asking a question to another student about a gang. The student denies asking the question. -DB First Amendment Center November 18, [...]

What kind of Governor would Jerry Brown be? Don’t try to check his gubernatorial record. It’s locked up until 2038.

BY PETER SCHEER—-Attorney General Jerry Brown has taken the first formal steps toward declaring himself a candidate for Governor of California. He is, or soon will be, the deja vu candidate in a race to become the deja vu governor. What kind of governor would Brown be? While the resumes of most candidates provide, at [...]

Controversy simmers over university’s invitation to former 70′s radical to speak at colloquium

New York Times columnist Jack Hitt argues that while it is important to allow controversial speakers to mount the soapbox, the First Amendment is also honored by a public debate over exactly who should be invited to state their views. -DB The New York Times Opinion November 17, 2009 By Jack Hitt The Issue First, [...]

Michigan Homeland Security charging $7 million for documents in FOIA request

The Michigan Homeland Security is charging a staff member of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy $6,876,303.90 to fulfill a Freedom of Information Act  request for documents on homeland security grant money from 2002 to 2009. The center was following up on a report by the Office of the Inspector General which revealed a lack [...]

Former Santa Ynez Valley principal appealing ruling that school board did not violate Brown Act

A Superior Court judge ruled that the Santa Ynez Valley School District’s Board of Education did not violate the Brown Act in 2008 when it failed to publicly disclose charges against a popular high school principal in an open meeting even though the principal himself aired the issues in a public meeting. -DB Santa Maria [...]

Alisal school board approves agenda again to meet parent complaints

After two parents filed a complaint the Alisal Union School District board had denied parental participation, the board called a special meeting at 1 p.m. to revote on a meeting agenda. One resident was not impressed since she said few could attend a meeting at 1 p.m. -DB The Californian.com November 17, 2009 By Maria Ines [...]

Feds fail to spread alarm about tainted school lunches

Although tortillas from Chicago’s Del Rey Tortilleria have made children sick in more than 20 schools in recent years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not issued any warnings to  school officials. The tortillas have been distributed in schools in several states from Wisconsin to Massachusetts. -DB USA TODAY November 16, 2009 By Blake [...]

China trip: Obama’s call for greater Internet freedom gets mixed reception

Chinese citizens were glad to hear U.S. President Barack Obama’s support for greater Internet freedom in China but were skeptical about the impact of his comments. The Chinese government censored the comments on the official news agency and deleted them from Web sites. -DB Radio Free Asia November 17, 2009 SHANGHAI — Chinese Internet users [...]

YouTube provides way to connect news outlets with citizen journalists

YouTube Direct allows news agencies to gain access to content on Google’s video site uploaded daily by citizen journalists. -DB Online Media Daily November 17, 2009 By Laurie Sullivan Google is unveiling a tool Tuesday that enables traditional television and online news agencies to create a platform to manage a bureau of citizen journalists. These [...]

Nicole Richie granted permanent restraining order against paparazzi

A Los Angeles judge granted former actress Nicole Richie a “permanent” three-year restraining order against some paparazzi who stalk her daily to take photos of her and her family and even caused an accident injuring Richie two weeks ago. Judge Carol Boas Goodson was concerned about the First Amendment rights of the  two photographers but [...]

A&A: Is it a casual dinner or Brown Act violation?

Q: If 3 out of 5 school board members meet at a restaurant with a teacher or administrator for a few minutes until they noticed that I was also at the restaurant with my wife, have they violated Brown’s Act? A: Depending on exactly what transpired, the episode you describe could be a violation the [...]

A&A: Are jail visitor sign-in logs public documents?

Q: Does the public have the right to inspect jail visitor sign-in logs in California? I’ve been told no, but seen court rulings in other states that lead me to think this may be inaccurate. Thank you! A: The right to inspect jail visitor sign-in logs would come from California’s Public Records Act, which provides, [...]

A&A: Online arrest records no longer show violations

Q: I have received conflicting information from public records experts and police public information officers on what law enforcement agencies have to release relating to arrest history. So, let me ask you directly, if I submit a request to a police department in California that asks if John Doe, DOB 1/1/60, has ever been arrested [...]

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