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The First Amendment Clinic

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The Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic’s dual mission is to teach students important aspects of the First Amendment and to vigorously defend its clients’ First Amendment rights.  Through coursework and cutting edge First Amendment litigation and advocacy, students gain theoretical and practical skills while achieving the best possible outcomes for its clients. The Clinic houses the Local Journalism Project, an innovative initiative that provides focus to the Clinic’s work on behalf of local and community news outlets and journalists.

Clinic Director Mark Jackson and Local Journalism Project Managing Attorney Heather Murray published an Op-Ed in the Albany Times Union this week to amplify the efforts of journalist Janon Fisher to shed light on the judicial appointment process in NYC. While the trial court in the Clinic’s public records suit ruled that candidate applications for appointed judgeships must be released to the public with minimal redactions to shield private information, an appellate court late last year made it harder to hold power to account by overturning the lower court. Mr. Fisher has sought leave to appeal to the New York Court of Appeals with the Clinic’s assistance. The Court takes up only a small percentage of the requests to hear cases like ours, but we're hopeful that ours will be one of them.

Thanks to the fantastic Clinic team that has contributed to work on this case thus far starting way back in 2021, including Ava LubellChristina NeitzeyConnor Flannery (who argued before both the trial court and the Appellate Division), Nyssa KruseSvetlana (Aika) Riguera, and Sun Shen.




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