The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has rebuffed my attempt to unseal information about the Department of Justice's unsuccessful secret effort to force Faceb…
In our democratic system of government, the legislature passes laws, the executive branch enforces them, and the courts interpret them when disputes arise about…
You may recall that in February, a federal district court in Fresno denied a petition I filed with the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Northern Cali…
Abstract Despite increasing concern from the information security community, it is far from clear that even the smartest of U.S. cities are in a position to de…
On February 11, a federal court in Fresno denied a motion to unseal that I had filed last November along with the ACLU, the ACLU of Northern California, and the…
Order denying motions by Riana Pfefferkorn and others to unseal the docket and court's legal reasoning in a sealed case wherein the Department of Justice al…
As I mentioned in my previous blog post, 2019 is shaping up to be a big year for increased transparency in our nation's courts. At CIS, we've had a whir…
Amicus curiaei brief of retired judges, including CIS Director of Fourth Amendment and Open Courts, in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a case ch…
Amicus brief of former magistrate judges, including CIS Director of Fourth Amendment and Open Courts Stephen Wm. Smith, in support of Petitioners-Appellants Jas…
Amicus brief of Electronic Frontier Foundation and Riana Pfefferkorn in support of Petitioners-Appellants Jason Leopold and Reporters Committee for Freedom of t…
On May 24, 1844, a crowd gathered inside the United States Supreme Court chambers in the basement of the Capitol, eagerly awaiting a demonstration of an amazing…