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.
Amicus
Short for amicus curiae, or "friend of the court." Independent groups like the Reporters Committee file amicus curiae briefs when they are not otherwise directly involved in a case, to lend the media's perspective on the legal issues before the court.
Urging the Supreme Court of Texas to uphold the state's third-party allegation rule protecting journalists who fairly and accurately report the positions of opposing parties in newsworthy events.
Enforcement of Federal Communications Commission policy regulating indecent programming on the public airwaves severely restrains the ability of broadcast journalists to report on matters of public interest and concern, The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press arguedin a friend-of-the-court brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Voter registration applications are public records under federal law that cannot be withheld from release simply because of an arbitrary promise of secrecy by state officials, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press argued in a friend-of-the-court brief filed today.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed a friend-of-the-court brief Wednesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., asking the court to further consider a judge's decision to seal proceedings related to the government's detention of crime victims to ensure their appearances as trial witnesses.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Seattle (9th Cir.) urging it to uphold the constitutionality of Washington state’s anti-SLAPP law.
Records related to a secret admission process at the University of Illinois that favored applicants with ties to large donors and the politically connected cannot be considered confidential student education records exempt from public release, according to a friend-of-the-court brief filed today in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago (7th Cir.) by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, joined by 46 media organizations, has filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York City (2nd Cir.) seeking to affirm the quashing of a subpoena for the testimony of a Wall Street Journal reporter in a financial malfeasance lawsuit.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is asking the Ohio Supreme Court to reject Cuyahoga County’s extreme reproduction fees for electronic real estate records. The friend-of-the-court brief argues that the imposition of six-figure fees to access electronic real estate records will dramatically curtail valuable public-interest reporting on the Ohio real estate market.
The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled that requiring elected officials to recuse themselves from governance votes on issues where they have a conflict of interest does not violate First Amendment free speech rights, endorsing a position put forth in a friend-of-the-court brief by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
Amicus Brief in Neely v. Wilson
Urging the Supreme Court of Texas to uphold the state's third-party allegation rule protecting journalists who fairly and accurately report the positions of opposing parties in newsworthy events.