The University of Georgia School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic and civil rights attorneys Gerald Weber and Leigh Finlayson have secured a $105,000 settlement from the City of Atlanta on behalf of photojournalist Sharif Hassan. Mr. Hassan was arrested in Atlanta during the 2020 Black Lives Matter demonstrations in retaliation for exercising his First Amendment…

The University of Georgia School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Morrow, Georgia for blocking Aaron Booterbaugh from the City’s Facebook Page after he posted comments critical of the City’s Mayor and City Manager. Read the full Complaint here. The litigation also challenges the City…

The 2023 legislative session was a busy time for the Georgia General Assembly, with many bills introduced — a good number of which passed — impacting free expression and open government interests. The Georgia First Amendment Foundation (GFAF)’s Legislative Watch highlights some of these proposed and passed laws. GFAF’s Legislative Watch was informed by the…

The United States District Court of Puerto Rico has permanently enjoined enforcement of a ‘false information’ law that made it a crime, during a state-declared emergency, to disseminate information known to be false in the form of a “warning or false alarm” or if the information created “imminent risk” of harm. Consistent with arguments made…

  Working on behalf of non-profit media collective Atlanta Community Press Collective (“ACPC”), the University of Georgia School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic successfully asserted Georgia’s Shield Law to defeat Non-Party Document Requests that ACPC received from Blackhall Real Estate Phase II, LLC (“Blackhall”), a defendant in South River Watershed Alliance v. Dekalb County and…

On March 21, 2023, the University of Georgia School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic and pro bono counsel from BakerHostetler won an important victory for press freedoms on behalf of an independent journalist, who reports on the world of obstacle course racing and was sued for publishing an article. In late 2019, the journalist published on his…

  Clare R. Norins, director of the University of Georgia School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic, was featured on Georgia Public Broadcasting’s “Political Rewind,” which aired March 2, 2023. The segment, titled “Growing distrust and political problems for the press,” focused on recent revelations that Fox News knew that stolen election claims being amplified by…

On February 23, 2023, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals enjoined enforcement of North Carolina’s Property Protection Act against  animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). The Clinic’s friend-of-the-court brief filed on behalf of eighteen law professors urged the circuit to invalidate the following provisions of the Act that allow all…

Photo: Plaintiff Jeff Gray holds a sign that reads, “God Bless the Homeless Vets” The University of Georgia School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic has joined the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) in filing a federal lawsuit on behalf of U.S. Army veteran Jeffrey Gray who was criminally cited for holding a “God…

Photo: Cumberland Island National Seashore In Camden County v. Sweatt, the University of Georgia School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic filed an amicus brief asking the Georgia Supreme Court to affirm Georgians’ constitutional petition-and-referendum power to veto legislative decisions by their county commissioners that go against the will of the people they were elected to…