The First Amendment Clinic wins significant records case

The First Amendment Clinic, led by law students working pro bono, has won a significant records case against the Arizona Department of Economic Security (ADES) at the Arizona Supreme Court.

The Court decided journalists can engage in research that would allow them to see if a state health agency is protecting vulnerable adults under its care. Students in the clinic represented journalist Amy Silverman of KJZZ and the “Arizona Daily Star.”

It is an important win for all journalists in the state and allows for public agencies to be held accountable for their work. The case will now return to the trial court to apply the new test and consider ADES’ objections.

“Arizona Horizon” welcomed Gregg Leslie, the Executive Director of the First Amendment Clinic at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, and Amy Silverman, a journalist, to discuss the clinic.

The First Amendment Clinic provides opportunities for students about going to court and ASU’s topic is the First Amendment. 

“It’s a movement in law schools to make law school more practical to teach students how to actually litigate cases, and in the clinic, they will take on a specific topic, and ours is the First Amendment, and two of them got to argue before the Supreme Court,” said Leslie. 

Silverman added she did a study to find more information about services for people who have disabilities. 

“In 2020, I did a year-long project with ProPublica and the ‘Arizona Daily Star’ designed to investigate services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and what their lives are like in the community because we’ve changed the laws a lot over the years and have gone from institutions to community and smaller group home settings which is great, until you start to drill down and see people’s lives aren’t necessarily much better,” said Silverman.