Amicus Briefs

In a win for free speech and press, the First Circuit affirmed that Puerto Rico’s law criminalizing “false” notices or alarms published during state-declared emergencies must remain permanently enjoined. The University of Georgia School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic filed a “friend of the court” brief on behalf of multiple free speech and free press organizations urging this outcome. The brief emphasizes how similar laws in other countries have become tools for suppressing legitimate news reporting and citizen dissent.

Advocating for core political speech rights, the University of Georgia School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic filed an amicus brief to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals asking it to uphold an injunction against the City of Atlanta’s residency requirement for collecting referendum petition signatures.

On July 6, 2023, the University of Georgia’s First Amendment Clinic filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Georgia Supreme Court to grant review to correct an erroneously restrictive interpretation of Exception 26.2 of the Georgia Open Records Act (“ORA”) that governs public access to police body camera recordings.

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 represent.

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).

On October 19, 2021, the Georgia Supreme Court issued a decision in ACLU v. Zeh giving full force and effect to the free-speech protections codified by Georgia’s anti-Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (“anti-SLAPP”) statute.

The Clinic achieved an amicus victory in Love v. Atlanta Falcons Stadium Co., LLC where the defendant company voluntarily handed over 1,500 pages of documents sought by the plaintiffs under Georgia’s Open Records Act (ORA) rather than wait for the Georgia Court of Appeals to likely order the documents to be produced.