Kagan renews call for cameras in Supreme Court

Cnet News says the time has come for the Supreme Court to join the 21st Century and allow live streaming video of oral arguments. -db Cnet News Commentary June 30, 2010 By Declan McCullagh The idea of opening up U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments to cameras received a welcome endorsement this week from Elena Kagan, [...]

First Amendment: State attorneys general sign ‘friend of court’ brief in Marine funeral suit

Nearly every state in the union is backing the family of a Marine in a Supreme Court case pitting the rights of the Westboro Baptist Church to picket their son’s funeral against the family’s right to privacy. -db ABC News May 31, 2010 By Devin Dwyer WASHINGTON, D.C. – Forty-eight states and the District of [...]

First Amendment: State attorneys general sign ‘friend of court’ brief in Marine funeral case

Nearly every state in the union is backing the family of a Marine in a Supreme Court case pitting the rights of the Westboro Baptist Church to picket their son’s funeral against the family’s right to privacy. -db ABC News May 31, 2010 By Devin Dwyer WASHINGTON, D.C. – Forty-eight states and the District of [...]

Public interest groups ask U.S. Supreme Court to overturn ruling they claim detrimental to Freedom of Information Act

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press joined other public interest groups in filing a brief asking the Supreme Court to overturn a Third Circuit opinion that would extend privacy rights to corporations, potentially limiting investigations into such disasters as the West Virginia mining deaths and the gulf oil spill. -db Reporters Committee for [...]

Senate committee passes measures to boost judicial transparency

The Senate Judiciary Committee passed a number of measures improving transparency in courtrooms including televising U.S. Supreme Court hearings. -db The Blog of Legal Times April 29, 2010 By Mike Scarcella The Senate Judiciary Committee passed several measures today addressing greater transparency in the judicial system—including televising U.S. Supreme Court hearings. One of the bills, [...]

California legislators for amending U.S. Constitution to overturn Supreme Courts ruling on campaign finance

Two California legislators have introduced a resolution in the state legislature for a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC arguing that the court decision wrongly gives corporations the same First Amendment rights as individuals and will allow them to use advertising to control the outcome of elections. -db [...]

Prop. 8 trial could still find the airwaves

San Francisco Bay Area federal judges are again floating a plan to allow cameras in federal courtrooms just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court, in a rare intervention, rejected a similar plan. If approved this time, it is possible that the final arguments in the Prop. 8 could be telecast. -db The San Francisco Chronicle [...]

Supreme Court to decide if petition-signers can remain anonymous

The United States has a long tradition of allowing anonymous speech in the political arena, but there are also serious concerns about transparency and accountability. The Supreme Court must decide whether Washington state officials can release names on a petition seeking a referendum on repealing the state’s domestic-partnership rights. -DB First Amendment Center Commentary January [...]

Domestic partnership law: Supreme Court takes case on privacy for petition signers

The Supreme Court agreed last week to consider whether the First Amendment guarantees the right of privacy to those signing ballot-initiative petitions. -DB The New York Times January 16, 2010 By Adam Liptak WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide whether the First Amendment requires that the names of people who [...]

Supreme Court order blocking online access to video of Prop 8 trial is a mistake the camera-phobic justices will regret

PETER SCHEER—It’s hard to imagine a video of lawyers debating points of constitutional law going viral on YouTube, but the audience for the Proposition 8 trial — a lawsuit seeking to overturn California’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage — is potentially vast. Unfortunately, that audience will have to wait. As the trial began, the U.S. [...]

Prop 8 hearing: Strict enforcement of laws against assault needed rather than curtailing TV coverage

A Citizen Media Law Project blogger argues that the Supreme Court should recognize that it is against California law to assault witnesses and that not televising the proceedings will not protect witnesses in what promises to be a widely publicized event. To allow the broadcast on YouTube would provide a boost to freedom of the [...]

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 [...]

Supreme Court upholds lower court order for release of priest child abuse records

The Bridgeport, Connecticut Roman Catholic Diocese may be nearing the end of its seven-year long fight to keep sealed over 12,000 pages of records concerning priests’ sexual abuse of children as the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a court order to release the files. -DB The New York Times October 5, 2009 By [...]

Reporters Committee objects to exclusion of public from jury selection in Georgia

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed a friend-of-the-court brief to the U.S. Supreme court to review a decision in Georgia that allows a judge to bar the public from courtrooms during jury selection.  The decision runs counter to U.S. Supreme Court precedent. -DB Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Press Release [...]

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