In July 2021 the First Amendment Clinic, in partnership with the National Homelessness Law Center, wrote to Augusta-Richmond County officials urging them to reject a proposed expansion of the County’s panhandling ordinance and to repeal the existing ordinance due to its unconstitutional targeting of protected speech.
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A June 2021 Report by the University of Florida’s Brechner Center for Freedom of Information highlighted the Clinic’s analysis finding that more than 20 Georgia state agencies have formal policies that restrain their employees’ speech in constitutionally questionable ways.
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Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are both abridged when government agencies prohibit their employees from speaking with the media on matters of public import. By Julia Griffis and Taran Harmon-Walker
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On May 6, 2021, the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, in partnership with the Society of Professional Journalists, Georgia Chapter and the Georgia Public Safety Training Center, hosted a virtual panel discussion on Police & the Press: News Coverage of Protests
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The Clinic’s “Rap on Trial” team presented to the Hall County Public Defenders on arguments for challenging the admission of rap lyrics and music videos as evidence in criminal prosecutions.
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UGA Law School’s First Amendment Clinic, along with UGA’s Community HeLP Clinic and four other clinics from Harvard, Columbia, Texas A&M, and Boston University, were chosen as the 2021 recipients of the Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA) award for “Excellence in a Public Interest Project.”
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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.
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The First Amendment Clinic is representing independent journalist Robin Kemp of the Clayton Crescent in challenging Open Meetings Act violations by the City of Forest Park, Georgia.
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The University of Georgia School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic secured agreement against online censorship in a settlement with Douglas County Commissioner Kelly G. Robinson who blocked county resident Brenda Bohanan from his interactive Facebook page after she criticized his response to constituent concerns.
Keep ReadingOn October 8, 2020 the First Amendment Clinic delivered its third media law training to collegiate journalists at universities across Georgia.
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A critical mass of courts — including the three Circuit Court of Appeals to have so far addressed the issue — find that it constitutes unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment for a public official who operates an interactive social media account in their capacity as a state actor to deny individuals access to that account based on dislike of or disagreement with their speech.
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On September 17, 2020, the First Amendment Clinic presented to over 100 Georgia municipal attorneys on the current state of the law regarding public officials blocking constituents on social media.
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In July 2021 the First Amendment Clinic, in partnership with the National Homelessness Law Center, wrote to Augusta-Richmond County officials urging them to reject a proposed expansion of the County’s panhandling ordinance and to repeal the existing ordinance due to its unconstitutional targeting of protected speech.
Keep Reading
A June 2021 Report by the University of Florida’s Brechner Center for Freedom of Information highlighted the Clinic’s analysis finding that more than 20 Georgia state agencies have formal policies that restrain their employees’ speech in constitutionally questionable ways.
Keep Reading
Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are both abridged when government agencies prohibit their employees from speaking with the media on matters of public import. By Julia Griffis and Taran Harmon-Walker
Keep Reading
On May 6, 2021, the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, in partnership with the Society of Professional Journalists, Georgia Chapter and the Georgia Public Safety Training Center, hosted a virtual panel discussion on Police & the Press: News Coverage of Protests
Keep Reading
The Clinic’s “Rap on Trial” team presented to the Hall County Public Defenders on arguments for challenging the admission of rap lyrics and music videos as evidence in criminal prosecutions.
Keep Reading
UGA Law School’s First Amendment Clinic, along with UGA’s Community HeLP Clinic and four other clinics from Harvard, Columbia, Texas A&M, and Boston University, were chosen as the 2021 recipients of the Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA) award for “Excellence in a Public Interest Project.”
Keep Reading
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.
Keep Reading
The First Amendment Clinic is representing independent journalist Robin Kemp of the Clayton Crescent in challenging Open Meetings Act violations by the City of Forest Park, Georgia.
Keep Reading
The University of Georgia School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic secured agreement against online censorship in a settlement with Douglas County Commissioner Kelly G. Robinson who blocked county resident Brenda Bohanan from his interactive Facebook page after she criticized his response to constituent concerns.
Keep ReadingOn October 8, 2020 the First Amendment Clinic delivered its third media law training to collegiate journalists at universities across Georgia.
Keep Reading
A critical mass of courts — including the three Circuit Court of Appeals to have so far addressed the issue — find that it constitutes unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment for a public official who operates an interactive social media account in their capacity as a state actor to deny individuals access to that account based on dislike of or disagreement with their speech.
Keep Reading
On September 17, 2020, the First Amendment Clinic presented to over 100 Georgia municipal attorneys on the current state of the law regarding public officials blocking constituents on social media.
Keep Reading