Access Solution: The E-Inbox
When the press says an e-inbox would return traditional press access to new court filings, it raises some doubt. A judge might ask, so how does all this work.
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Access Law in the Electronic Age
As a series of judicial opinions lifts the fog of pretext, it becomes apparent that court clerks can put in place an electronic inbox that functions precisely as the old wood box on the clerk’s counter used to work, allowing reporters to see new court filings the day they are received.
Read moreThe News Cycle
Under oath, in the witness chair, I had to explain one of the most subtle notions about the news: that it soon vanishes.
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San Francisco to Pay $369,000 for Police Raid of Journalist’s Home
The city of San Francisco will pay $369,000 to settle claims over its police raid on a journalist’s home and office this past May, an action condemned by press advocates as chilling the ability of reporters to get information from anonymous sources.
Read morePress Has First Amendment Right to See New Court Complaints on Day of Filing
Over four days of trial earlier this month, Virginia court clerks used public funds and private attorneys to fight tooth and nail against public access. They wound up with a thumping defeat last week, as a federal judge’s opinion affirmed the First Amendment right to see new court complaints on the day they are filed.
Read moreBread and News
Matters of bread and herring, and technology: A federal judge in Virginia advances First Amendment law in ruling that news is best consumed when it’s fresh.
Read moreNevada Supreme Court Upholds Shield-Law Protections for Digital Outlets
The Nevada Supreme Court ruled Thursday that operating as a digital-only news outlet is not grounds for disqualification from the Silver State’s robust shield laws.
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Trump Campaign Pulls Press Credentials for Bloomberg News Reporters
The Trump campaign Monday revoked press credentials for Bloomberg News reporters after the news organization stood by its decision not to investigate its namesake founder, Mike Bloomberg, or other Democratic candidates running against the incumbent Republican president in 2020.
Read morePlayboy Writer Sues Trump Over Revoked White House Pass
A senior correspondent for Playboy claims in a federal complaint that the White House suspended his press pass because he lacked “decorum” and “professionalism” when conservative social-media influencers shouted at him during a Rose Garden event last month.
Read moreFinal Warrant Targeting Journalist Deemed Illegal by Judge
A California judge on Friday quashed a fifth and final warrant that authorized police to search a journalist’s home, office and phone records, but questions remain as to why the warrants, now deemed illegal, were issued in the first place.
Read moreJudge Unseals Warrant Used to Search Journalist’s Home
More court documents unsealed Tuesday indicate a San Francisco judge signed off on a police raid of a freelance journalist’s home despite knowing the man is a member of the press.
Read moreClosed Court Delays Trial of Ex-White House Counsel
Under fire after she barred press and the public from jury selection at the start of trial for former White House counsel Greg Craig, a federal judge agreed Tuesday to restart jury selection with a new 125-person pool.
Read morePress Advocate: Judge Knew Warrant Targeted Journalist
A newly unsealed warrant shows a California judge should have known he was authorizing police to search a journalist’s office in violation of state and federal laws that prohibit such intrusions, a press-freedom advocate argued Tuesday.
Read morePress Raid
A San Francisco judge postponed a hearing Tuesday on whether to unseal and revoke search warrants in the case of a freelance journalist raided by police after an anonymous source leaked a police report about the death of San Francisco public defender Jeff Adachi, though an attorney for police said the reporter will get his property back.
Read moreInvasion-of-Privacy Case Tests Limits to Investigative Reporting in California
After two years of legal wrangling, a California judge will soon decide if there is enough evidence to try two anti-abortion activists who surreptitiously recorded Planned Parenthood staff supposedly arranging the sale of aborted fetal tissue, in a case some fear will hamstring journalists who go undercover to expose wrongdoing.
Read morePhilippine Agents Arrest Journalist Critical of President
The award-winning head of a Philippine online news site that has aggressively covered President Rodrigo Duterte’s policies was arrested Wednesday by government agents in a libel case.
Read moreSilicon Valley Court Gives Quick Press Access, Part of California Trend
In the new year, the cycle of press access in Santa Clara Superior turned again and the court in the heart of Silicon Valley is once more allowing journalists to see new written proceedings as soon as they arrive, behind the virtual counter, in a virtual box.
Read moreBiggest Court in Nation Opens On-Receipt Media Portal
The biggest court in the nation, Los Angeles Superior Court, opened a media portal Monday intended to give journalists access to new court filings as soon as they are electronically received.
Read moreEU Rights Court Guts Hungary Law on Libelous Links
The European Court of Human Rights blasted Hungarian courts on Tuesday for upholding a libel verdict against a news outlet whose only “crime” was linking to a YouTube video inside a news story.
Read moreSeventh Circuit Punts First Amendment Suit to State Court
In a First Amendment case over press access to new court filings, a Seventh Circuit panel on Tuesday ruled that federal courts lack jurisdiction over such matters and refused to follow the circuit’s landmark 1994 opinion in favor of contemporaneous access.
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