Kansas Agency Says Initial Online Search That Sparked Newspaper Raid Was Legal
The initial online search of a state website that led a central Kansas police chief to raid a local weekly newspaper was legal, a spokesperson for the agency that maintains the site said Monday, as newly released video showed the publisher’s 98-year-old mother protesting a search of their home.
Kansas Newspaper Raid Likely Broke the Law, Experts Say
A central Kansas police chief was not only on legally shaky ground when he ordered the raid of a weekly newspaper, experts said, but it may have been a criminal violation of civil rights, a former federal prosecutor added, saying: “I’d probably have the FBI starting to look.”
Kansas Prosecutor: Police Should Return Material Seized in Newspaper Raid
A Kansas prosecutor said Wednesday that he found insufficient evidence to support the police raid of a weekly newspaper and that all seized material should be returned in a dispute over press freedoms that the White House acknowledged it is watching closely.
Police Raid of Small Kansas Newspaper Sparks First Amendment Battle
A small newspaper and a police department in Kansas are at the center of a dispute over freedom of speech as the newspaper struggled Monday to publish its next edition, days after police raided its office and the home of its owner and publisher.
U.S. Federal Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against Saudi Crown Prince in Journalist’s Killing
A U.S. federal judge dismissed a lawsuit Dec. 6 against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and two of his alleged co-conspirators in the murder of journalist and democracy advocate Jamal Khashoggi. President Biden’s administration insisted that the Saudi prince was immune legally as the head-of-state, and the federal judge heeded its suggestion.
Journalists Injured by Police While Covering George Floyd Protests are Winning Large Settlements
Nine days after George Floyd’s death, the American Civil Liberties Union posted a story characterizing the attacks on journalists covering the protests as a “full-scale assault on the First Amendment freedom of the press.” Lawsuits were filed and we detail the top three settlements this year obtained by journalists and a citizen documenting the protests.
Revisiting New York Times v. Sullivan in the Age of Disinformation
Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch are urging the court to revise New York Times v. Sullivan to curtail the spread of false information. Utah University Law Professor RonNell Andersen Jones thinks they are both barking up the wrong tree.
Attorney General Meets With Media Leaders to Tighten Rules on Leak Investigations
On June 14, Attorney General Merrick Garland met with leaders of The New York Times, CNN, and The Washington Post to strengthen rules for obtaining journalists' records during leak investigations. The meeting took place after several reports emerged saying that the Department of Justice, under the Trump administration, had secretly subpoenaed journalists’ phone and email logs in an effort to uncover sources in stories that had been leaked to the press.