Citizens for Sunshine is a nonprofit organization based in Akron, Ohio that seeks to improve compliance with Ohio's Public Records Act. [1]
Akron is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about 30 miles (48 km) south of Cleveland. As of the 2017 Census estimate, the city proper had a total population of 197,846, making it the 119th-largest city in the United States. The Greater Akron area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had an estimated population of 703,505.
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Of the fifty states, it is the 34th largest by area, the seventh most populous, and the tenth most densely populated. The state's capital and largest city is Columbus.
The organization was started in 2007 by a former newspaper reporter with a passion for public records who began filing pro se lawsuits against police departments and other public offices who refused to release records he had requested. [2] Although most of the cases are settled out of court, at least one has resulted in a ruling from the Ohio Court of Appeals, which found that the police and law department in Rocky River, Ohio, had clearly violated state law when they refused to make records available to him. [3]
Public records are documents or pieces of information that are not considered confidential and generally pertain to the conduct of government.
Rocky River is a city in western Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. A suburb of Cleveland, it is located along the shore of Lake Erie approximately 9 miles (14 km) west of downtown Cleveland. The city is named for the Rocky River that forms its eastern border. The population was 20,213 at the time of the 2010 census.
Most notably, the suits included a lawsuit against Marc Dann, then the attorney general of Ohio, [4] for access to e-mails between Dann and his scheduler, with whom he was believed to be carrying on an extramarital affair. [5]
Marc Dann is an American former politician of the Democratic Party, who served as the Attorney General of Ohio from 2007 until his resignation on May 14, 2008.
The Ohio Attorney General is the chief legal officer of the State of Ohio in the United States. The office is filled by general election, held every four years. The current Ohio Attorney General is Republican Dave Yost.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." Officially nonpartisan, the organization has been supported and criticized by liberal and conservative organizations alike. The ACLU works through litigation and lobbying and it has over 1,200,000 members and an annual budget of over $100 million. Local affiliates of the ACLU are active in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The ACLU provides legal assistance in cases when it considers civil liberties to be at risk. Legal support from the ACLU can take the form of direct legal representation or preparation of amicus curiae briefs expressing legal arguments when another law firm is already providing representation.
An arrest is the act of apprehending a person and taking them into custody, usually because they have been suspected of committing or planning a crime. After the person is taken into custody, they can be questioned further and/or charged. An arrest is a procedure in a criminal justice system.
Jack Bertrand Weinstein is a Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. As of August 2018, he continues to maintain a full docket.
In the United States, a citizen suit is a lawsuit by a private citizen to enforce a statute. Citizen suits are particularly common in the field of environmental law.
The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) is a Christian, conservative, nonprofit, public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and active throughout the United States. According to its website, its goals are to "preserve America's Judeo-Christian heritage, defend the religious freedom of Christians, restore time-honored moral and family values, protect the sanctity of human life, and promote a strong national defense and a free and sovereign United States of America."
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press(RCFP) is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that provides pro bono legal services and resources to and on behalf of journalists. The organization pursues litigation, offers direct representation, submits amicus curiae briefs, and provides other legal assistance on matters involving the First Amendment, press freedom, freedom of information, and court access issues.
Public Citizen Litigation Group is a public interest law firm in the United States known for its Supreme Court and appellate practice. The group is the litigating arm of the non-profit consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen. Its attorneys work on cases involving health and safety regulation, consumer rights, separation of powers, access to the courts, class actions, open government, and the First Amendment. Despite the group's small size, its staff attorneys have argued 63 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including landmark cases on separation of powers, commercial speech, and consumer rights.
Thomas Edward Perez is an American politician and attorney who is the Chair of the Democratic National Committee since February 2017. Perez was previously Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights (2009–2013) and United States Secretary of Labor (2013–2017).
Brian E. Frosh is an American politician from Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party. He is the Attorney General for the state of Maryland. He also served five terms in the Maryland State Senate, representing Maryland's District 16 in Montgomery County. Prior to serving in the Senate, Frosh also represented District 16 in the Maryland House of Delegates, serving two four-year terms.
Robert Watson Ferguson is an American lawyer and politician who is the 18th and current Attorney General of Washington. A Democrat, he was elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2016. Prior to serving as Attorney General, Ferguson was a member of the King County Council.
Anita Alvarez is the former State's Attorney for Cook County, Illinois, United States. Alvarez was the first Hispanic woman elected to this position, after being the first Latina to win the Democratic nomination for state's attorney of Cook County.
Helen Jones-Kelley is the former Director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS), Ohio's largest agency, from 2007 to 2008. During her tenure she received substantial media attention for various ODJFS related activities, and for her role in the Controversial Ohio database searches of Joe Wurzelbacher.
Lewis Thornton Babcock is a Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado and former judge of the Colorado Court of Appeals.
Grant Murray Snow is the Chief United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.
Mark Arthur Ciavarella Jr. is a convicted felon and former President Judge of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania who was involved, along with fellow judge Michael Conahan, in the "Kids for cash" scandal in 2008.
American Tradition Partnership (ATP), formerly known as Western Tradition Partnership, is a conservative 501(c)4 advocacy group in the United States targeting what it describes as "environmental extremism." ATP has also initiated litigation targeting campaign finance regulations. It maintains an office in Washington, D.C.
Numerous lawsuits and ballot challenges, based on conspiracy theories related to Barack Obama's eligibility for the United States presidency, have been filed since 2008. These actions have sought to have Obama disqualified from running for, or being confirmed for, the Presidency of the United States, to declare his actions in office to be null and void, or to compel him to release additional documentation related to his U.S. citizenship.
The mugshot publishing industry is a niche market of tabloid journalism in the United States. The industry consists of companies that publish mugshots and booking details of individuals arrested by law enforcement agencies. These companies publish the arrest information in tabloids, through local and multi-jurisdictional search websites. The related reputation management industry profits when individuals pay a fee to have their mugshot removed from one or more websites; often the same entity owns both the publishing site and the removal service, which has led to allegations of and lawsuits for extortionate practices and arrests of mugshot business owners on charges identity theft, money laundering, and extortion. In 2018 the journal of the American Bar Association called the industry an "online extortion scheme."