Appeals panels in Pennsylvania rule in contradictory ways on student on-line speech

Free speech advocates are mulling over the decisions of two three-judge panel in appeals courts for the Third Circuit as the panels ruled separately that a student had the right to speak freely off-campus and that the school had a right to punish students for off-campus speech they deemed disruptive to the school. -db
Student Press Law [...]

Southern California: Workers want right to solicit work on street corner

Day laborers in Costa Mesa are contesting a city law that bans them from seeking employment on city streets. The laborers want “solicitation speech” included as protected speech under the First Amendment. -db
Courthouse News Service
February 8, 2010
By Elizabeth Banicki

SANTA ANA, Calif. (CN) – Day laborers say Costa Mesa enforces an unconstitutional ordinance that prohibits [...]

Rights organization sues to obtain ethics report on Bush lawyers who wrote ‘torture memo’

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit to force the Department of Justice to release to the public a report that explores possible ethics violations by the lawyers who wrote the Bush administration’s “torture memos.” -DB

American Civil Liberties Union
Press Release
January 22, 2010

NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit today to compel [...]

Federal judge rules ‘right to party’ not in Constitution

A federal judge upheld a law allowing police in a Rhode Island beach town to put orange stickers on home hosting raucous parties, ruling the the First Amendment did not protect wild and crazy events. -DB

First Amendment Center
January 25, 2010
By Eric Tucker
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)— A law allowing police in a Rhode Island beach town to [...]

Obama administration begins roll back of ideological exclusion of international scholars

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed orders lifting the ban of two foreign scholars denied the opportunity to address audiences in the United States. The two are prominent scholars from England and South Africa and were denied visas to the U.S. by the Bush administration. -DB

American Civil Liberties Union
Press Release
January 20, 2010

WASHINGTON. D.C. – [...]

Darkness Award highlight: California school district pays for censorship of student newspaper

The Fallbrook Union High School District who censored the student newspaper, cancelled the journalism program and reassigned the newspaper adviser agreed to pay the adviser $7,500 and reimburse the ACLU and its law firm $20,000 for legal costs. In October the First Amendment Coalition awarded its Darkness Award to Rod King, the principal responsible for [...]

Opinion: Imperial Valley Board of Supervisors violated spirit of California’s open government law

While finding that the county supervisors covered themselves sufficiently on the Brown Act, the Imperial Valley Press argues that they failed to honor the spirit of the Brown Act by not fully informing the public that it was their intention to intervene in a federal case involving Prop 8 making same-sex marriage illegal in California. -DB

Imperial [...]

Imperial County Board of Supervisors under scrutiny for possible open government violation

The American Civil Liberties Union is looking into an allegation that the Imperial County Board of Supervisors violated California’s Brown Act in a closed session December 15 when it voted to intervene in a federal case involving Prop 8, the state proposition making same-sex marriage illegal. -DB

Imperial Valley Press
December 18, 2009
By Elizabeth Variner

Did the Imperial County [...]

ACLU suing Nebraska on stringent requirements for independent candidates and ballot initiatives

In suing the state of Nebraska, the American Civil Liberties Union claims that signature requirements for independent candidates and ballot initiatives discourage voter participation and violate their free speech rights. -DB
American Civil Liberties Union
Press Release
December 16, 2009
OMAHA, NE – Burdensome petition signature requirements unlawfully keep independent candidates and ballot initiatives off the Nebraska ballot, according [...]

Government lawyer argues torture suit too sensitive for public court

Citing national security and state secrets, a Justice Department lawyer argued that the suit involving the CIA and a San Jose company over extraordinary rendition and torture of suspected terrorists cannot proceed in open court. -DB
San Francisco Chronicle
December 16, 2009
By Bob Egelko
SAN FRANCISCO — A lawsuit accusing a Bay Area flight-planning company of aiding [...]

Reprimands of faculty in campus protest over budget cuts raises serious First Amendment issues

A rally over budget cuts held in a tiny free speech patio at Southwestern College spilled out onto the larger campus, bringing student and faculty protesters into a confrontation with police and garnering reprimands for three faculty members. Some question whether the school administration can under the Constitution make the vast majority of campus a non-public [...]

Government worker fired for criticism unrelated to his job of Guantanamo military commissions

Col. Morris Davis, former prosecutor for the Guantanamo military commissions, was fired from the Congressional Research Service after he wrote opinion pieces critical of the commissions that appeared in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. -DB
American Civil Liberties Union
Opinion
December 4, 2009
By Rachel Myers

The ACLU sent a letter to the Library of Congress and [...]

U.S. needs federal shield law

The Senate should move forward on a federal shield law for reporters writes an ACLU blogger because such a law strengthens democracy by allowing journalists to reveal government malfeasance without fear of going to jail. -DB

American Civil Liberties Union
Opinion
December 2, 2009
By Sandra Fulton

Most people don’t realize that the American government is in the habit of [...]

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 Second Circuit that required [...]

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 in Gainesville, Fla., about where to [...]

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 Were Destroyed And [...]

Secretary of Defense blocks release of torture photos

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates used powers granted to him under new legislation passed last month to exempt the photos of abuse of detainees from the Freedom of Information Act. The new law provides exemptions for records deemed harmful to national security. -DB

American Civil Liberties Union
Press Release
November 14, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a brief filed late [...]

San Diego ACLU challenges alleged violations of college employees’ free speech rights

In a letter to the Southwestern College president, the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego urged him to repudiate his actions restricting a peaceful demonstration on campus to protest budget cuts. -DB

ACLU San Diego and Imperial Counties
Press Release
November 9, 2009
Saying that a public college “must uphold the highest possible commitment to freedom of speech [...]

Indiana high School students sue after school imposed penalties for posting racy photos on internet

Two sophomores from an Indiana high school were barred from afterschool sports for the 2009-2010 school year when the administration objected to sexually provocative images of themselves the girls posted on MySpace. The American Civil Liberties Union is filing a suit against the school, arguing that the posting was not disruptive and therefore violated the [...]

ACLU gets more records about Bush administration’s interrogation of detainees

The federal government handed over to the American Civil Liberties Union more documents requested through the Freedom of Information Act lawsuits. The documents pertained to the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody overseas. -DB

American Civil Liberties Union

Press Release
October 30, 2009
NEW YORK – The government today handed over to the American Civil Liberties Union numerous documents [...]

Recent federal court ruling prompts city council to consider its handbill ban

An early October ruling in a case from San Clemente that handbill distribution on vehicles was protected under the First Amendment has made the Carlsbad city attorney recommend rescinding the city’s 15-year-old ban on the practice. -DB

North County Times
October 26, 2009
By Barbara Henry
Tucking a fitness club flier or a restaurant discount coupon onto the windshield [...]

ACLU letter to Gates: Don’t use discretionary power to withhold torture photos

The American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the Defense Secretary Robert Gates urging him not to use discretionary power in a bill expected to be signed this week to keep secret photos of abuse of detainees held by the U.S. -DB
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
October 21, 2009
By Miranda Fleschert
The American Civil [...]

Federal judge rules some records of Guantanamo interrogations may be kept secret

A federal judge agreed with the government that the C.I.A. was within the law in classifying parts of Guantanamo detainee statements. The government had maintained that no violations of laws were being concealed and that the exemption to the Freedom of Information Act was necessary to protect intelligence sources and methods. -DB
Breaking News 24/7
October [...]

Obama administration asks Supreme Court to delay decision on appeal of release of detainee torture photos

The United States Solicitor General asked the Supreme Court to postpone deciding whether to hear the case over whether abuse photos of detainees should be released to the public. If the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill is signed into law, provisions in the bill would allow the administration to withhold the photos from public scrutiny, making [...]

Senate moves to back Obama in barring release of torture photos

A senate Committee voted to amend the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill to include language to allow the Secretary of Defense to withhold photos of detainees who had undergone torture. -DB
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
October 8, 2009
By Miranda Fleschert
Barring the release of photos depicting abuse of detainees in U.S. custody was again [...]

High court hears arguments: animal rights versus free speech

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week on whether videos of dogfights are protected speech under the First Amendment. The Obama administration is asking the court to reinstate the Federal Depiction of Animal Cruelty law, restricting the sale of videos and depictions of animal cruelty. -DB

NPR
October 6, 2009
By Deborah Tedford
Animal rights groups and free [...]

Pittsburgh accused of trampling First Amendment at G-20 meetings

The Legal Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania says that the Pittsburgh police transformed the city into a police state during the recent G-20 Summit, shutting down dissent with tactics reminiscent of repression methods used in communist Poland in the early 1980s. -DB

JURIST
Opinion
October 06, 2009
By Witold Walczak
Law enforcement officials have, over the [...]

Pro sports’ bans on Twitter could provoke First Amendment protest

Professional athletes filling time around games by tweeting whatever was on their minds, some of it critical, are now facing rules restricting their freedom. Questions  remain about whether the bans violate the free speech rights of the athletes and whether they even care enough to challenge the bans. -DB

The Dallas Morning News
Opinion
October 5, 2009
By Kevin Sherrington

In [...]

Police review board findings kept secret

An opinion piece in the Redding Record Searchlight suggests that a state law opening the reports of police review boards to the public would
actually reduce suspicion and distrust of police departments and enhance their reputations. -DB
Redding Record Searchlight
Opinion
October 1, 2009

The greatest benefit of such a panel: It would open a window onto the rarely [...]

Associated Press asks federal government for greater transparency

The Associated Press chief executive officer said in testimony on Capitol Hill that the Freedom of Information Act is weakened by a section that allows Congress to write exemptions into the law that have not been vetted by public discussion or subject to judicial review. -DB

JURIST
October 1, 2009
By Andrew Morgan
Associated Press CEO Tom Curley told [...]

Federal judge rules CIA cannot be forced to release documents related to destruction of 9/11 interrogation videotapes

The Associated Press
September 30, 2009
By Larry Neumeister

Agreeing with CIA Diretor Leon Panetta, a federal judge said that national security concerns override other issues in upholding the CIA’s right to keep secret their methods of getting information from uncooperative detainees. The American Civil liberties Union is seeking the documents related to interrogations of 9/11 detainees that [...]

Obama asks for renewal of Patriot Act provisions sanctioning secret domestic spying

The Obama administration has notified Congress that it backs renewing provisions of the Patriot Act which expires at the end of the year. The provisions include a secret court for granting wiretaps and warrants for records – banking, library and medical. -DB
Wired
September 15, 2009
By David Kravets
The Obama administration has told Congress it supports renewing three provisions [...]

Supreme Court to hear detainee photo case after Obama change of course

President Barack Obama reversed a decision not to appeal a ruling for disclosure of photos showing U.S. troops abusing detainees. The Justice Department faces steep challenges in finding sufficient legal footing to prevail. -DB
The New York Times
Analysis
September 15, 2009
By Adam Liptak
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This spring, the Justice Department decided it would not ask the Supreme [...]

Community groups ask for transparency in selection of interim Alameda County District Attorney

A coalition of community groups is asking for an open selection process in selecting an interim District Attorney for Alameda County particularly given the key decisions the interim DA will be making concerning seeking the death penalty rather than life imprisonment. The Alameda County Board of Supervisors is considering the appointment Tuesday, Sept. 15. -DB
American [...]

Puerto Rico: ACLU appeals ruling that FBI not responsible for attacking reporters

Although a federal court found the FBI agents’ attack on several journalists unconstitutional, they found that the agents could not be held responsible for their actions. -DB
American Civil Liberties Union
Press Release
September 10, 2009
SAN JUAN, PR – The American Civil Liberties Union today filed an appeal of a federal court ruling that found that, even though there [...]

Reporters Committee asks high court to forego review of release of torture photos

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has filed a brief with 16 other news organizations to argue that the Freedom of Information Act was properly applied in an appeals court decision requiring the release of images of detainee abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan. -DB
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Press Release
September 8, 2009
The Reporters [...]

C.I.A. refuses to release details of interrogations

Besides interrogation methods, the C.I.A is trying to keep secret former President Bush’s authorization to begin secretly holding terrorist suspects; cables between the C.I.A. from secret prisons to headquarters; and memos of lawyers assessing the legality of the detention program. -DB
The New York Times
September 2, 2009
By Mark Mazetti
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Central Intelligence Agency is [...]

Cuts in newspaper staffs reduce efforts for public access to courtrooms

Observers worry that cuts in newspaper legal budgets will mean fewer challenges to efforts to keep court proceedings secret. Historically, newspapers, small and large, have mounted access battles for the public’s benefit. -DB
The New York Times
September 1, 2009
By Adam Liptak
WASHINGTON, D.C. – You don’t see newspapers fighting to open court proceedings the way they used to, [...]

Supreme Court to hear crucial campaign financing case early this month

The Supreme Court will cut short its summer break to hear rare re-arguments on a case first heard in March that could result in their overturning curbs on corporate spending on political candidates. -DB
The New York Times
August 30, 2009
By Adam Liptak
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Supreme Court will cut short its summer break in early September to [...]

Suit asks for records concerning warrantless searches of travelers’ laptops

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a Freedom of Information lawsuit in federal court to obtain records pertaining to the immigration and border policy of routinely searching traveler’s laptops. -DB
Congress Daily
August 26, 2009
The American Civil Liberties Union wants federal government records pertaining to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s policy of searching travelers’ laptops without [...]

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