Author: Bridget Bosworth

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Cornell Clinic Visits The Wall Street Journal

Students and faculty from the Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic visited The Wall Street Journal newsroom on March 13, where they heard from journalists and lawyers at the media organization. Investigative journalists Christopher Stewart, Joseph Palazzolo, Khadeeja Safdar and Marcelo Prince described the hard work that goes into creating impactful journalism.  Members of the Dow Jones legal team — including Jason Conti, Jacob Goldstein, Craig Linder, Ava Lubell, Michael Adelman and Hannah Beattie — explained how lawyers help protect and enable the Journal’s high-impact journalism.

We are deeply grateful for their time and generosity in sharing insights—equipping students with the knowledge and perspective they will carry forward as they tackle their own matters at the Clinic.

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Clinic’s Heather Murray Takes Part in Sunshine Week Events

(L-R) Paula Knudsen Burke, Zachary Gordon, Hon. Daniel D. Regan, Heather Murray
(L-R) Paula Knudsen Burke, Zachary Gordon, Hon. Daniel D. Regan, Heather Murray

Heather Murray, Associate Director of the Cornell First Amendment Clinic and Managing Attorney of its Local Journalism Project, took part in two Sunshine Week events in Pennsylvania last week. Sunshine Week, held annually in March, is a nationwide observance that emphasizes the importance of open government, public records, and freedom of information. Organized by the Brechner Freedom of Information Project, it gathers journalists, civic groups and citizens to promote government transparency and accountability.

On March 18, the Pennsylvania Center for the First Amendment brought together journalists and lawyers at Penn State for an event called “Sunlight in Happy Valley: Confronting Penn State’s Transparency Gap.” A panel of journalists discussed the difficulties covering the university. During the event, the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association awarded Terry Mutchler the Advocate of the Year award. Mutchler, chair of Philadelphia-based Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP’s Transparency and Public Data Practice, is a former journalist and the first executive director of Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records.

PNA Director of Government Affairs Jan Murphy (right) presents Terry Mutchler with the 2026 PNA Advocate of the Year award.

Murray, joining a panel of attorneys after the journalists, addressed issues of transparency that have plagued Penn State over the years, as well as the Spotlight PA lawsuit against the university.

On March 19, Murray joined a Right to Know Law panel at Point Park University Center for Media Innovation in Pittsburgh. The event, hosted by the Pennsylvania Bar Association and sponsored by Del Sole Cavanaugh Stroyd LLC, was titled “From Requests to Appeals: A Sunshine Week Right to Know Law Program.” Moderated by Paula Knudsen Burke at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the panel also included Judge Daniel D. Regan, Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, and Zachary Gordon, Del Sole Cavanaugh Stroyd LLC. Panelists discussed the basics of the RTKL and the RTKL appeals process in Allegheny County.

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Cornell’s First Amendment Clinic in Tumultuous Times: Ambitious Goals and Ongoing Impact

Clinic Director Mark Jackson (R) and Advisory Board member and Cornell Law School professor Michael Dorf discuss the Clinic during an eCornell Keynote.

In a recent eCornell Keynote, Clinic Director Mark Jackson joins Advisory Board member and Cornell Law School professor Michael Dorf to reflect on the Clinic’s impact, the urgent challenges faced by the Clinic, and the work still ahead.

Watch the full discussion here.

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Safeguarding Democracy by Defending Free Speech and Enabling a Vibrant Press

Mark Jackson, Cornell First Amendment Clinic Director

In a Cornell Law School Forum article, Eileen Korey describes how Clinic Director Mark Jackson’s father, a journalist, inspired his passion for free speech and his dedication to defending local journalism.

Read the full article here.

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Court Rules in Favor of Clinic Client The Intercept, Allowing Suit Seeking Access to Government Surveillance Records to Proceed

On December 3, 2025, the Superior Court of Arizona, Maricopa County, ruled in favor of the Clinic’s client, The Intercept, denying two Motions to Dismiss. The ruling allows a public records suit seeking access to government surveillance records, brought by the Clinic and co-counsel Zwillinger Wulkan in June 2025, to proceed. News outlet The Intercept brought the special action against Arizona’s Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and the Transaction Record Analysis Center (TRAC), a nonprofit the AGO established in 2014, seeking access to records from a database that houses millions of wire transfers sent between Mexico and U.S. border states.

The complaint alleges that the AGO created TRAC in 2014 to perform a public function and exerted a high degree of control over TRAC in the decade since, and therefore, the records that The Intercept seeks must be released by the AGO and TRAC to fulfill their transparency obligations under the Arizona Public Records Law.

In October 2025, alumnus Alexander Venditti argued on behalf of The Intercept in opposition to the defendants’ Motions to Dismiss. In December 2025, the court denied the Motions to Dismiss. The court ruled that the TRAC Defendants are subject to the Public Records Law as “[t]he allegations clearly raise a reasonable inference that the TRAC Defendants are performing core governmental functions as the AGO direction and its agent.” The court rejected the AGO’s argument that disclosure of the requested records would violate the confidentiality provisions of Arizona’s anti-racketeering statutes, and found that the AGO failed to meet its burden to demonstrate that the State’s interest in withholding outweighed the public’s right to inspection.

Thanks to our co-counsel at Zwillinger Wulkan, alumni Alexander Venditti and Yifei Yang, students Kyland Carreon, Zachary Jacobson, John Lauro, and Danielle Mimeles, and extern Nyssa Kruse for their work on the suit. Read more about the suit in The Intercept here.