Public Records Laws Right Of Access Cases
In Houchins v. KQED (1978), the Supreme Court said that First Amendment
freedom of the press did not give the press an unlimited right to gather
information.
In Doe No. 1 v. Reed (2010), the Court upheld a state law requiring the
disclosure of referendum signers and ruled that the law on its face does
not violate the First Amendment.
In John Doe # 1 v. Reed (2011), the Court decided not to issue an
injunction to prevent disclosure of the names of individuals who had
petitioned for an unsuccessful referendum.
Los Angeles Police Department v. United Reporting Publishing Co. (1999)
said banning release of arrestee information for commercial purposes didn’t
violate the First Amendment.
In McBurney v. Young (2013), the Court ruled that Virginia’s Freedom of
Information Act, which made some public documents accessible only to
Virginians, was constitutional.
Sorrell v. IMS (2011) invalidated a state law prohibiting the sale of
pharmacy data as an impermissible restriction on free speech guaranteed in
the First Amendment.
In a case examining the state secrets privilege, the Supreme Court decided
in United States v. Zubaya (2022) that the U.S did not have to release the
location of a CIA waterboarding site in Poland.