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Digital Journalist's Legal Guide
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Everything online journalists need to protect their legal rights. This free resource culls from all Reporters Committee resources and includes exclusive content on digital media law issues.

Briefs & Comments

  • Amicus brief in Leigh v. Salazar
    June 2, 2011

    Asking the Ninth Circuit to reverse a district court's denial of a preliminary injunction on behalf of a photographer seeking less restrictive access to federal lands for purposes of photographing the roundup of wild horses.

  • Amicus brief in State of Ohio ex. rel. The Vindicator Printing Co. v. Wolff
    May 6, 2011

    Urging the Ohio Supreme Court to recognize that bills of particulars function as supplements to public indictments and are subject to the public's First Amendment right of access to criminal proceedings and records.

  • Amicus brief in Karantsalis v. Dep't of Justice et al.
    May 2, 2011

    Urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to rehear en banc a three-judge panel decision finding that a federal prisoner's privacy interest in his mug shot outweighs the public interest in its disclosure such that it may be withheld under exemption 7(C) to FOIA.

  • Amicus brief in ACLU v. Alvarez
    April 22, 2011

    Urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to find the Illinois Eavesdropping Act's criminalization of recording of conversations to which parties have no reasonable expectation of privacy unconstitutional

  • Amicus brief in Rosetta Stone v. Google
    April 5, 2011

    Urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to rehear en banc a motion to unseal appellate records

  • Amicus brief in McBurney v. Young
    March 23, 2011

    Urging the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to hold that the commonwealth citizenship requirement provision contained in Virginia's freedom of information laws is unconstitutional.

  • Letter to Utah Governor Gary Herbert in opposition to House Bill 477
    March 7, 2011

    Urging Governor Herbert to veto a bill that, among other things, would categorically exempt text messages and other electronic communications from disclosure under Utah's open records law.

  • Amicus brief in Nevada Commission on Ethics v. Carrigan
    March 1, 2011

    Urging the U.S. Supreme Court to find that a state law on conflicts of interest by state officials should not be viewed as a First Amendment-protected restriction of speech.

  • Comments to Virginia General Assembly re: HB 2383
    January 27, 2011

    Urging rejection of HB 2383, a bill to amend the Virginia FOIA to allow state public bodies the ability to seek court permission to ignore harassing, abusive or overly burdensome document requests.

  • Amicus brief opposing motion to seal portion of appellate record
    January 24, 2011

    Urging the Third Circuit Court of Appeals not to retroactively seal portions of appellate filings made by a party.

  • Amicus brief in Kendall v. Virgin Islands Daily News
    January 18, 2011

    Urging the Virgin Islands Supreme Court to affirm a ruling that a retired judge failed to prove actual malice in his defamation claims against the local newspaper and one of its reporters for statements about the performance of his official duties, and asking the Court to extend the mandate of independent appellate de novo review beyond the issue of actual malice to include all constitutional issues in a defamation cause of action.

  • Amicus brief in Norman v. Borison
    January 7, 2011

    Urging the Maryland Court of Appeals to rule that a business owner lacks standing to sue for defamation based on statements about the company and to find that attorneys are privileged to provide journalists with copies of legal filings, as well as fair and accurate summaries of and comments on the documents and other judicial actions.

  • Letter in support of formerly embedded reporter Wayne Anderson
    December 21, 2010

    Urging the military to consider due process requirements in deciding an appeal by a reporter whose status as an embedded reporter was terminated by the military

  • Amicus brief in Too Much Media, LLC v. Hale
    December 7, 2010

    Urging the New Jersey Supreme Court to reject the Appellate Division's alarmingly restrictive view of who qualifies as a journalist and its implication that a trial court must conduct a full, potentially intrusive hearing to determine whether a person claiming protection under the state shield law is entitled to such.

  • Amicus brief in Wolk v. Olson
    December 6, 2010

    Urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to affirm the District Court's ruling that the "discovery rule" may not be applied in defamation claims against the mass media.