What do the First Amendment and your vanishing stock portfolio have in common? The answer is the need for openness, transparency and watchdogs on powerful institutions. The people who created the First Amendment more than two centuries ago had never heard of hedge funds, but they knew that too much…
The people who fought the Revolutionary War didn’t have much use for the British. One thing that differentiates us from the British is the history of robust, uninhibited speech in the United States, protected by the First Amendment, which limits libel laws and makes people much freer to speak and…
One of the hallmarks of the Internet age has been the increasing prevalence of anonymous speech. No one can question that there is a First Amendment right to anonymous speech. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that point in the case of McIntyre v. Ohio. Anonymous speech serves many important purposes:…
Last year’s California Supreme Court ruling mandating disclosure of public employee salaries is the gift that keeps on giving to the public. Every day, some newspaper throughout the state does a story reporting on some city which can’t manage its budget, or some public employee who appears to be making…
Does the First Amendment protect someone’s use of another’s copyright or trademark to make fun of them? That question has been at the forefront of several cases involving so-called “parody” of intellectual property. Many cases have found parody of copyrighted works or trademarks protected under the “fair use” doctrine or…
The First Amendment and judicial independence – both prized pieces of American democracy – have an uneasy coexistence these days. Many states elect their trial judges and the justices of their highest courts, and in some states, like West Virginia, big-money corporate interests have waged expensive campaigns to elect or…
The media will inevitably come under intense criticism this year for its coverage of the Presidential election. Supporters of John McCain have criticized the media for favoring Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton’s backers considered some in the media sexist, and Obama backers have complained of what they consider racist comments by…
Congress is debating whether there should be a federal “shield law” for reporters, modeled after state reporter’s privilege laws which exist in 35 states and which help protect vital First Amendment rights.. Of the 15 states which don’t have statutory protections for reporters, all but one have some form of…
Postmus gives public the mushroom treatment Some government officials view members of the public as mushrooms, to be kept in the dark and covered with manure. San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus is surely one of those officials. Postmus waged a pitched battle, at county expense, last year to resist…
Playing Hide and Seek With Public Records It’s not unusual for newspapers, or lawyers in Public Records Act or Freedom of Information Act cases, to accuse the government of trying to “hide” things. Now a San Bernardino County case has revealed what may be a criminal attempt at hiding public…