The First Amendment Coalition (FAC) is a non-partisan educational and advocacy organization that seeks to advance free speech and government transparency in California. Through its public advocacy, litigation, and educational programs, FAC intends to protect and promote freedom of expression, create more open and accountable government, and prevent censorship in the media. ¹

Activity

The First Amendment Coalition engages in oversight of the legislative process in support of bills that support the First Amendment and against bills that would restrict First Amendment rights. In 2004, FAC authored freedom of information (FOI) legislation that was enacted as Proposition 59, familiarly known as the Sunshine Amendment. This legislation amended the California constitution to include a right to open-government. ²

The First Amendment Coalition’s legal work supports journalists and educates citizens on how to enforce their First Amendment rights. In addition to providing strategic litigation, amicus briefs, and subpoena defense, ³ FAC offers a legal hotline, which allows free access to FAC’s lawyers, who specialize in First Amendment law and government access. The hotline is intended for questions regarding access to public records and court documents, attending government meetings in California, and First Amendment protections for both freedom of speech and the press. ⁴

The First Amendment Coalition maintains a searchable database called Asked and Answered (A&A), which answers questions posed by users about their rights under open government laws and First Amendment safeguards. The questions are answered by FAC’s attorneys and include topics like access to records from various government entities, potential violations of California’s Brown Act, and First Amendment rights regarding individuals expressing unpopular opinions. ⁵

Funding

The First Amendment Coalition is funded by donations from individuals, foundations, and corporations. FAC discloses some of its donors and tax filings confirm donations from the Hearst Foundations ($50,000 in 2020), ⁶ First Look Media ($35,000 in 2018), ⁷ and the Central Valley Foundation ($20,000 in 2016). ⁸

People

David Snyder is the executive director of the First Amendment Coalition and formerly served as a volunteer attorney member of the San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance Task Force. ⁹

Directors and Senior Staff

Peter Scheer is the president and former executive director of the First Amendment Coalition. Scheer is a former appellate lawyer for the Department of Justice. ¹⁰

Scott Lindlaw is the secretary of the board of FAC. Lindlaw formerly worked as a White House correspondent for the Associated Press and as a pro bono attorney for the Animal Legal Defense Fund. ¹¹

Duffy Carolan is the former president of FAC. ¹²

Carol Melamed formerly worked as the vice president of government affairs at the Washington Post. ¹³

Juliet Williams is the Northern California news editor for the Associated Press. ¹⁴

Ricardo Sandoval-Palos is the public editor at PBS. Sandoval-Palos formerly worked as a senior editor at Inside Climate News, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, and a project manager at the Center for Public Integrity. ¹⁵

Lara Bergthold serves on the board of Rock the Vote and as the chair of People for the American Way. Bergthold is the former executive director of the Lear Family Foundation and the former chair of the Campaign for America’s Future. ¹⁶

Erwin Chemerinsky is the dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law.

Jay Harris is the publisher and president of Public Intelligence and the former publisher and president of Mother Jones. ¹⁷

Linda Jue is the editor at large at 100Reporters and the executive director of the G.W. Williams Center for Independent Journalism. ¹⁸

Board of Advisors

Floyd Abrams is an expert on constitutional law and has been called “the most significant First Amendment lawyer of our age.” ¹⁹

Anne Avis serves on the boards of Global Press, KQED, and Internews and is a former trustee of the Fund for Global Human Rights and the NPR Foundation. ²⁰

Lowell Bergman is a professor of investigative reporting at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and a producer and correspondent for the PBS documentary series “Frontline.” ²¹

Tom Blanton is the director of the National Security Archive. ²²

Simone Coxe is the co-founder and chair of CALmatters and serves on the boards of KQED, Internews, and the UC Berkeley Journalism School. ²³

Rebecca MacKinnon is the director of the Ranking Digital Rights project at the New America Foundation. ²⁴

Craig Newmark is the founder of craigslist and serves on the boards of the Poynter Foundation, the Center for Public Integrity, the Sunlight Foundation, and Consumer Reports. ²⁵

Gary Pruitt is the CEO of the Associated Press. Pruitt formerly served as the chair of the Newspaper Association of America. ²⁶

Karen Stevenson is the former president and CEO of Link Media. ²⁷

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2. “Legislative Oversight.” First Amendment Coalition, 2021. Accessed December 5, 2021. https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/legislative-oversight/.
3. “Legal Work.” First Amendment Coalition, 2021. Accessed December 5, 2021. https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/legal-work/.
4. “Legal Hotline.” First Amendment Coalition, 2021. Accessed December 5, 2021. https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/legal-hotline/.
5. “Asked & Answered.” First Amendment Coalition, 2021. Accessed December 5, 2021. https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/asked-answered-3/.
6. “Grant Recipients Database.” Hearst Foundations, 2021. Accessed December 1, 2021. https://www.hearstfdn.org/grant-recipients-database.
7. First Look Media Works Inc, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2019, Schedule I, Part II.
8.  Central Valley Foundation, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2016, Schedule I, Part II.
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