Jon Fleischaker to Deliver 10th Annual State of the First Amendment Address

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 28, 2015) — An attorney who has spent a sizeable portion of his professional career fighting for government transparency in the Commonwealth of Kentucky will deliver the 10th annual State of the First Amendment Address.

Jon Fleischaker, who helped draft and then update the state’s Open Records and Open Meetings laws, will keynote the First Amendment Celebration at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 29, in the UK Athletics Auditorium of the William T. Young Library.

At the same time, the James Madison Award for Service to the First Amendment will be presented to Al Cross, former political reporter for the Courier-Journal and now director of UK’s Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues in the College of Communication and Information. Winners of the Constitution Day essay contest for UK students will also be announced.

Fleischaker was inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame in 2004, the only non-journalist so honored. He was the second recipient of the James Madison Award, given annually by the Scripps Howard First Amendment Center to a Kentuckian who has made an important contribution to the cause of a free press.

“Every journalist and journalism student, indeed every resident of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, owes a huge debt to Jon Fleischaker,” said Mike Farrell, director of the Scripps Howard First Amendment Center. “Because of his work with the legislature in drafting and updating the state’s sunshine laws, because of his ongoing advocacy of open government and because of the legal battles he has fought in courts around the state, Kentucky government is more transparent and more accountable to the taxpayers. That is a priceless gift Jon has bestowed on his fellow citizens.”

Fleischaker is chair of the First Amendment and media practice group in the Dinsmore Law Firm in Louisville.  He has represented broadcasters and newspapers, especially the Courier-Journal, during his 40 years of practice in media law and First Amendment issues. He has spoken at countless journalism meetings and worked with the Kentucky Press Association to advance the cause of a free press in the state. He has been the most visible attorney in Kentucky in dealing with First Amendment concerns.

He is a graduate of Swarthmore College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he earned magna cum laude honors. Among his first responsibilities as an attorney was serving on the legal team that represented former Courier-Journal reporter Paul Branzburg in an important case concerning the question of a reporter’s duty to identify his sources when he witnesses a crime. The case ended in a 5-4 decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, the only time the court has considered the question.

Many of the important open government decisions in Kentucky came in cases that Fleischaker argued. Among them is the decision of the Kentucky Supreme Court that the University of Louisville must identify its donors and an Appeals Court ruling that the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services must turn over records involving children in the cabinet’s care who were neglected or abused.

The public is invited to attend the State of the First Amendment event. Parking is available adjoining the William T. Young Library.

MEDIA CONTACT: Blair Hoover, (859) 257-6398; blair.hoover@uky.edu