California Law Enforcement Agencies Hinder Transparency in Use-Of-Force Cases
Law enforcement agencies across California began receiving public records requests and responded with what's been described as “a campaign of massive resistance.”
Ex-Trump Lawyer Should Lose Law License for Efforts To Overturn Election, Judge Says
The judge noted that his acts were "a departure from professional norms and are unequivocally outside the realm of protection afforded by the First Amendment."
Lawsuit Over California Group’s Do-Not-Eat Listing for American Lobster Dismissed
Seafood Watch, which rates the sustainability of different seafoods, added American and Canadian lobster fisheries to its “red list” of species to avoid.
An anti-abortion group of self-proclaimed citizen journalists, Center for Medical Progress, secretly videotaped Planned Parenthood after creating false identities and a fake company to infiltrate restricted areas. The group released the project "Human Capital" in 2015, which includes various documentary-like videos accusing Planned Parenthood clinics in California of selling aborted fetal tissue. The activists argued that its project was protected by the First Amendment, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed that no journalist is above the law.
Incarcerated Journalist Claims Prison Officials Punished Him for Reporting on COVID-19 Outbreak
Private prison officials at a halfway house in California seized an incarcerated journalist’s phone and delayed his release after he texted a colleague about a COVID-19 outbreak at the facility, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court on February 2nd.
On November 20th, the City of Delano, California agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by four high school students who alleged that Delano police officers violated their First Amendment right to record police.
First Amendment Coalition Pushes Court to Keep Public Access to Criminal Case
The defense counsel in a high-profile criminal case in California asked a court in August to close the pretrial hearings from the public and media. Now, a First Amendment advocacy group is pushing back, arguing that there are ways to ensure a fair trial without compromising public access.
Nunes Family’s Lawsuit Against Reporter Fails to Meet Defamation Standard, Judge Rules
After analyzing the sixteen allegedly defamatory statements, U.S. District Court Judge C.J. Williams found that the plaintiffs had neither identified what about them was false nor provided any facts that would have shown them to be false.