Judge Unseals Video of Iowa Cop Killing Woman
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that body-camera footage and other records related to an officer’s fatal shooting of an Iowa woman three years ago will be unsealed and made public.
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Groups Demand to See Criteria for NYPD Gang Database
Civil rights groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday to compel the New York City Police Department to turn over records giving insight into its controversial gang database, which police have claimed do not exist despite testimony suggesting otherwise.
Read moreFederal Circuit Eases Access to Case Filings
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has claimed a victory in the fight for transparency after the Federal Circuit said it will now allow the public immediate access to briefs filed with the court.
Read moreNational Archives Says Kavanaugh Docs Won’t Be Ready Until October
The National Archives and Records Administration says it won’t be able to complete its review of nearly 1 million documents regarding Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s time in the George W. Bush White House until October.
Read moreAvenatti Attack
Michael Avenatti filed a brief Monday to unseal the complaint former Playboy model Shera Bechard filed against former GOP finance officer Elliott Broidy. Avenatti says sealing the complaint, which concerns hush money for an affair, violates the First Amendment’s presumption of open access to court records.
Read moreJudge: Opioid Distribution Data Not for Public Consumption
A federal judge has ruled that state and local governments cannot publicize federal government data about where prescription opioids were distributed — a blow to news organizations seeking to report more deeply on the nation’s overdose and addiction crisis.
Read morePaper Loses Public Records Dispute With Mayor
A Sacramento newspaper was not entitled to attorney fees in a public records dispute involving emails from former mayor Kevin Johnson’s office involving his work with the National Conference of Black Mayors.
Read moreEPA Aide: Scrutiny of ‘Politically Charged’ Records Requests
The Environmental Protection Agency assigns public-records requests from environmental groups or others that it sees as “politically charged” to special internal review, a top agency official told congressional investigators in one of several federal probes surrounding Scott Pruitt, the scandal-plagued former administrator who resigned this month.
Read moreMinnesota Sued Over Failed Amazon Headquarters Bid
A government transparency watchdog claims in court that Minnesota has refused to hand over a copy of its unsuccessful proposal for Amazon’s second corporate headquarters.
Read moreSweetheart Ancestry.com Deal Alleged in NY
Contrasting the dust on its records demands against the access given to Ancestry.com, an open-government group has asked a judge to put sunlight on the website’s correspondence with public officials in New York.
Read moreNYPD Sued for Trump Family Handgun Records
The New York City Police Department was hit with a lawsuit on Thursday to cough up handgun license applications submitted by President Donald Trump and his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
Read moreLawsuit Says DOJ Not Providing Documents to Ex-FBI Official
WASHINGTON (CN) – Andrew McCabe, the former FBI deputy director who claims his firing by Attorney General Jeff Sessions was
Read moreRide-Hails Can’t Hide Behind Trade Secrets in Public Records Spat
The city of Seattle might have to hand over data from ride-hail companies like Lyft to a private citizen as part of a records request, even though the records may contain the companies’ trade secrets, the Washington Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
Read moreLas Vegas Police Sued for Refusing to Release Tupac Files
In a case that its attorney is calling “historical,” The Center for Investigative Reporting sued the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for refusing to hand over records and documents related to the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur.
Read moreJudge Orders Bill O’Reilly Settlements Exposed
Ex-Fox News host Bill O’Reilly “has not even come close” to proving his right to privacy outweighs the public’s right to access the sexual harassment settlements that cost him his job, a federal judge ruled.
Read morePACER Fees Shouldn’t Fund Most Court Tech, Judge Rules
Thirty years after federal courts began offering online access to litigation records through the PACER system, a federal judge ruled Saturday that fees paid by the public for such access cannot fund other courtroom technologies.
Read moreEU Court Champions Public Access to Draft Legislation
Emphatic that provisional legislative proposals are public records too, the European General Court chided EU Parliament on Thursday for denying full access to meetings of what is known as a “trilogue.”
Read moreNJ Court Cracks Light on Wiretap Records for Mobster’s Estate
Prosecutors must let the estate of a dead mobster access sealed wiretap documents for its fight to recoup some seized money, a New Jersey appeals court ruled Tuesday.
Read moreImmigrant Acquitted of Murder Sues Feds for Documents
Lawyers for Jose Garcia-Zarate, the homeless undocumented immigrant acquitted last year of murdering Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier, filed a motion in federal court Tuesday asking the U.S. government to hand over its communications with local law enforcement agencies.
Read moreHustler’s Larry Flynt Loses Appeal for Missouri Execution Records
Hustler publisher and free speech advocate Larry Flynt lost his appeal to unseal court records on Missouri’s use of lethal injection drugs when the Eighth Circuit ruled Tuesday that the government’s interest in carrying out executions outweighs his First Amendment rights.
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