First Amendment

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark 1974 amendments to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), a landmark law that guarantees public access to federal government records.   To commemorate this milestone, the Center for Study of Responsive Law is hosting a special event on Dec. 19, 2024, at…

A research paper co-authored by Frank LoMonte, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Center for Freedom of Information director, is referenced in “Does Criminalizing ‘Disruption’ in Schools Violate Free Speech” published in The Crime Report on Aug. 24. The article focuses on the questionable constitutionality of laws…

This article by Brechner Center Director Frank LoMonte originally appeared in The Conversation on July 9, 2021. Photo credit: “Donald Trump” by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 From condo salesman to reality TV host to leader of the free world, Donald Trump has occupied several lifetimes’ worth of identities over a remarkable…

College athletes can’t be stripped of their scholarships for violating vague “misconduct” rules that penalize legally protected expression, free-speech groups told a federal appeals court in New York. In a brief filed Tuesday, the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information joined the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) and the Foundation…

Frank LoMonte, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Center for Freedom of Information director, is quoted in “College Athletes, Long Muffled By Schools, Are Finding New Ways to Speak Out” published in The Washington Post on Oct. 12. The article focuses on college athletes who have been…

College students cannot be disciplined for “uncivil” political speech on social media, free-speech organizations told the U.S. Supreme Court in a brief filed Monday. The brief, prepared by attorneys with the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, asks the justices to accept the case of New Mexico medical student Paul…

Government agencies throughout the country are enforcing broad policies forbidding public employees from speaking to the news media without approval, even though federal courts repeatedly have declared such policies unconstitutional, the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information documents in a new report. The Brechner Center issue brief, “The First Amendment…

University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications‘ Brechner Center for Freedom of Information Director Frank LoMonte commented on a federal appeals court decision affirming a student publication’s free press rights, in “Even ‘Offensive’ Publications Have Free Press Rights,” published on July 25 in Inside Higher Ed. Frank LoMonte The U.S. Court of Appeals for the…

In the latest legal skirmish over the ability of public universities to regulate what students post on social media pages, free-speech organizations are backing the appeal of a New Mexico medical student punished for a profane political rant on Facebook. The case presents a possible vehicle for the U.S. Supreme…

A Kentucky statute making it a crime punishable by a year in jail to speak to a school employee in a way that “interferes with” school functions faces a constitutional challenge that may end up before the U.S. Supreme Court. In a brief prepared by Brechner Center attorneys, the justices…

In a case reminiscent of the dispute over President Trump’s blocking of critics from his Twitter feed, UF’s Brechner Center for Freedom of Information and Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project are supporting the free-speech case of a Texas police critic who was forbidden from posting to the Facebook page…

Frank LoMonte, director of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, commented in the article “Windowpanes Without Messages” published in Inside Higher Ed on Aug. 25. The article focuses on the Ohio State University ban on decorations in dormitory windows. The decision…