Briefs & Comments

  • January 31, 2012

    The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has submitted testimony to the Illinois General Assembly in support of an amendment to the state eavesdropping law, which would create an exemption from criminal prosecution for the “[r]ecording of a peace officer who is performing a public duty in a public place and speaking at a volume audible to the unassisted human ear.” House Bill 3944 is an important step in reforming an overly broad law that criminalizes a critically important aspect of the newsgathering process and infringes on cherished First Amendment freedoms, the Repor

  • 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

  • July 15, 2010

    Urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the principle that intrusion and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims should not be allowed where the harm is based upon the publication of controversial speech about matters of public concern.

  • December 31, 2009

    Urging the U.S. Supreme Court to accept review of an 11th Cir. right-of-publicity case in which the court strictly defined and interpreted "newsworthiness."