News
No Democracy Without Disclosure: Why the Supreme Court Must Protect the Public’s Right to Know Who’s Behind Dark Money
On January 6, 2021, in the hours before many of the President’s supporters stormed the Capitol in a violent effort to halt Congress’s certification of the Electoral College votes, President Trump spoke at the “March to Save America” rally in Washington’s Ellipse. To the agitated crowd, he urged his supporters to march on the U.S. Capitol and “fight like hell.” In the months since the deadly January 6 riots at the Capitol, some details have become clear. Law enforcement has identified and arrested some suspects, and reporters have analyzed footage from the event to understand how the protesters
Warrantless Border Searches of Electronic Devices Constitutional
The First Circuit ruled this month that warrantless searches of electronic devices at the border do not violate the First or Fourth Amendments. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit on behalf of eleven plaintiffs whose electronic devices had been searched by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), either at the physical border or upon arrival from an international flight. The plaintiffs challenged policies promulgated by ICE and CBP that authorize border agents to conduct “basic searches” of
Back to Basics: Why Partisan Gerrymandering Violates the First Amendment
MFIA filed an amicus brief opposing partisan gerrymandering on behalf of the Floyd Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression at Yale Law School.
A Reporter by Any Other Name: Qualifying for Reporter’s Privilege in the Digital Age
What makes a reporter a reporter?
The Unreasonableness of "Reasonable" Prepublication Review, Part 1
In 1931, the landmark decision Near v. Minnesota established that, as a general matter, prior restraints—“government action[s] that prohibit[] speech or other expression before the speech happens”—are unconstitutional under the First Amendment. As with most First Amendment jurisprudence, the decision recognized that there could be exceptional circumstances in which prior restraints may be allowable, notably in the context of national security.
Data Gathering and the Right to Petition
As of the time of writing, the California Spotted Owl, Tricolored Bat, Narrow-foot Hygrotus Diving Beetle, and close to 150 other animal species are awaiting official determinations by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as to whether they qualify as endangered.