imported>CharlieMehta: Importing Wikidata short description: "American nonprofit public interest organization"

2025-03-04T12:02:41Z

Importing Wikidata short description: "American nonprofit public interest organization"

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{{Short description|American nonprofit public interest organization}}
{{One source|date=February 2022}}
The '''First Amendment Coalition''' (FAC) is a [[nonprofit]] public interest organization committed to [[freedom of speech]], more open and [[accountable government]], and public participation in civic affairs. Founded in 1988, FAC's activities include "test case" [[litigation]], free legal consultations on [[First Amendment]] issues, educational programs, legislative oversight of bills in California affecting access to government and free speech, and [[public advocacy]]. In 2016, lawyer and journalist David Snyder<ref>{{cite web | url=https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/2016/11/david-snyder-journalist-first-amendment-lawyer-named-head-fac/ | title=David Snyder, Journalist and First Amendment Lawyer, Named to Head FAC | date=18 November 2016 }}</ref> became the organization's executive director.

==History==
FAC co-authored and sponsored Proposition 59 [https://web.archive.org/web/20100605031010/http://www.firstamendmentcoalition.org/category/resources/prop-59/], the [[Freedom of information law (California)#California's Constitutional Sunshine Amendment|Sunshine Amendment]] to the [[California State Constitution]], enacted by voters in 2004. FAC since then has enforced Prop. 59, suing Governor [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] to force him to make public his and his staff's calendars of appointments, pressuring state agencies to be more transparent in their decision-making, and filing lawsuits to strengthen existing protections and establish new rights of access.

Recent suits have involved public access to government databases; greater disclosure by [[CalPERS]] (the state pension system) of its investments in hedge funds, the release of [[Department of Justice memoshttps://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca9/15-15117/15-15117-2017-08-25.html|Department of Justice memos]] analyzing drone strikes to kill American citizens abroad, private equity deals and other alternative investments;<ref name="Calpers">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/08/business/08calpers.html?_r=2&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Organizations/C/California%20Public%20Employees%20Retirement%20System&oref=slogin&oref=slogin|title=Calpers Tells What It Paid High-Risk Investment Funds|accessdate=2008-01-10|work=The New York Times|date=2004-12-08|author=Mary Williams Walsh}}</ref> extending government access requirements to the California court system; and curbing agency use of the most abused FOI exemptions.

FAC's "Legal Hotline" [http://www.firstamendmentcoalition.org/legal-hotline/] provides legal information and assistance to [[journalist]]s, [[blog]]gers, [[ethnic media]], and ordinary citizens. FAC's web site is a key resource for statutes, cases, "FAQs," news and analysis on First Amendment and freedom of information issues in California. Many portions are available in Spanish and [[Standard Mandarin|Mandarin]] for use by ethnic media.

FAC holds regular events across California to discuss free speech issues and has hosted annual conferences with its partners the [[USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism]] and the [[University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism]]. Past speakers have included [[Jeffrey Toobin]], [[Stuart Taylor, Jr.]], [[Arianna Huffington]], [[Daniel Ellsberg]], NSA General Counsel [[Robert Deitz]], former NY Times reporter [[Judith Miller]], First Amendment lawyer [[Floyd Abrams]], investigative reporter [[Seymour Hersh]], Commentary Magazine editor [[Gabriel Schoenfeld]], Internet journalism pioneer [[Dan Gillmor]], and leading media lawyers from around the country. FAC has also published "The Right to Know: A Guide to Public Access and Media Law," (2007), a comprehensive handbook on FOI, First Amendment and news-gathering law.

FAC's members are news organizations, law firms, libraries, civic organizations, academics, freelance journalists, bloggers, community activists, and ordinary citizens. Members and supporters are kept abreast of legal issues through FAC's newsletter—a combination of original commentaries and summaries of news and legal developments. FAC's views reach a larger audience through republication of its commentaries in newspapers across the state, as well as television and radio appearances by its executive director.

FAC is nonpartisan and politically non-ideological. Membership spans the political spectrum, from liberals who worry about excessive government secrecy to conservatives who see big government as a threat to [[individual liberties]]. All support freedom from [[censorship]], whether from the left or the right, and [[government]] [[Transparency (humanities)|transparency]].

The Coalition receives significant institutional support from the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, the Craig Newmark Philanthropic Foundation, Will Hearst, and the Central Valley Foundation in California. FAC and Peter Scheer, its former executive director, were acknowledged both regionally and nationally through receipt of the [[Society of Professional Journalists#Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment Award|Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment Award]]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20071017223512/http://spj.org/a-pulliamW.asp] and the [[James Madison Freedom of Information Award]] in 2006.[https://web.archive.org/web/20070905221101/http://www.spj.org/norcal/2006/foi2006winners-release.htm]

FAC's board of directors is led by Duffy Carolan, partner at Jassy Vick Carolan LLP. Members consist of representatives of "old" media (e.g., Carol Melamed, former vice-president of Government Affairs at the Washington Post (retired), Martin Reynolds, co-founder of Oakland Voices, which trains residents to serve as community correspondents, and Hal Fuson, Attorney, Former Executive Vice President, The Copley Press, Inc.), "new" media (e.g., [[Richard Gingras]], Sr Director of News & Social Products, Google and Dan Gillmor, Knight Center, Cronkite School of Journalism, University of Arizona, Phoenix), representatives of public interest organizations (e.g., [[Nate Cardozo]], Senior Staff Attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation), as well as academics and First Amendment lawyers.

== See also ==
* ''[[County of Santa Clara v. California First Amendment Coalition]]''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.firstamendmentcoalition.org/ http://www.firstamendmentcoalition.org/]

[[Category:Government watchdog groups in the United States]]
[[Category:Civil liberties advocacy groups in the United States]]
[[Category:Freedom of expression organizations]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1988]]
[[Category:Transparency (behavior)]]
[[Category:Freedom of information in the United States]]

First Amendment Coalition - Revision history

imported>CharlieMehta: Importing Wikidata short description: "American nonprofit public interest organization"