The Amicus of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
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Case: 21-1301 Document: 00117757004 Page: 1 Date Filed: 06/25/2021 Entry ID: 6430573 Case No. 21-1301 IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT CENTRO DE PERIODISMO INVESTIGATIVO, INC., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT AND MANAGEMENT BOARD FOR PUERTO RICO, Defendant-Appellant. On Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, San Juan, in Consolidated Cases Nos. 3:17-CV-01743-JAG and 3:19-CV-01936-JAG BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE THE REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS AND 27 MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE URGING AFFIRMANCE Tomás A. Román-Santos (Bar No. 91488) Bruce D. Brown (Bar No. 1067194) ROMÁN SANTOS LLC Counsel of Record for Amici Curiae P.O. Box 9295 Katie Townsend* San Juan, PR 00908 Sarah Matthews* Telephone: (787) 300-2811 Adam Marshall* Facsimile: (787) 300-2814 Madeline Lamo* [email protected] REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS 1156 15th St. NW, Suite 1020 Washington, D.C. 20005 Telephone: (202) 795-9300 Facsimile: (202) 795-9310 [email protected] *Of Counsel Case: 21-1301 Document: 00117757004 Page: 2 Date Filed: 06/25/2021 Entry ID: 6430573 CORPORATE DISCLOSURE STATEMENTS The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is an unincorporated association of reporters and editors with no parent corporation and no stock. The Atlantic Monthly Group LLC is a privately-held media company, owned by Emerson Collective and Atlantic Media, Inc. No publicly held corporation owns 10% or more of its stock. Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC, is a privately held company. No publicly held corporation owns 10% or more of its stock. The Center for Investigative Reporting (d/b/a Reveal) is a California non- profit public benefit corporation that is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. It has no statutory members and no stock. CNN en Español is a unit of Cable News Network, Inc. (“CNN”), which is a Delaware corporation that owns and operates numerous news platforms and services. CNN is ultimately a wholly-owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc., a publicly traded corporation. AT&T Inc. has no parent company and, to the best of CNN’s knowledge, no publicly held company owns ten percent or more of AT&T Inc.’s stock. The Committee to Protect Journalists is a nonprofit organization no parent corporation and no stock. i Case: 21-1301 Document: 00117757004 Page: 3 Date Filed: 06/25/2021 Entry ID: 6430573 First Look Institute, Inc. is a non-profit non-stock corporation organized under the laws of Delaware. No publicly-held corporation holds an interest of 10% or more in First Look Institute, Inc. Fundamedios, Inc. is a non-profit corporation organized under the laws of Massachusetts, with no parent corporation and no stock. Gannett Co., Inc. is a publicly traded company and has no affiliates or subsidiaries that are publicly owned. BlackRock, Inc. and the Vanguard Group, Inc. each own ten percent or more of the stock of Gannett Co., Inc. The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) is a not-for-profit organization with no corporate owners. The International Documentary Association is an not-for-profit organization with no parent corporation and no stock. The Investigative Reporting Workshop is a privately funded, nonprofit news organization based at the American University School of Communication in Washington. It issues no stock. The McClatchy Company, LLC is privately owned by certain funds affiliated with Chatham Asset Management, LLC and does not have publicly traded stocks. The Media Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-stock corporation with no parent corporation. ii Case: 21-1301 Document: 00117757004 Page: 4 Date Filed: 06/25/2021 Entry ID: 6430573 MPA - The Association of Magazine Media has no parent companies, and no publicly held company owns more than 10% of its stock. The National Press Club Journalism Institute is a not-for-profit corporation that has no parent company and issues no stock. The National Press Club is a not-for-profit corporation that has no parent company and issues no stock. National Press Photographers Association is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization with no parent company. It issues no stock and does not own any of the party's or amicus' stock. New England First Amendment Coalition has no parent corporation and no stock. New England Newspaper and Press Association, Inc. is a non-profit corporation. It has no parent, and no publicly held corporation owns 10% or more of its stock. The News Leaders Association has no parent corporation and does not issue any stock. News Media Alliance is a nonprofit, non-stock corporation organized under the laws of the commonwealth of Virginia. It has no parent company. Online News Association is a not-for-profit organization. It has no parent corporation, and no publicly traded corporation owns 10% or more of its stock. iii Case: 21-1301 Document: 00117757004 Page: 5 Date Filed: 06/25/2021 Entry ID: 6430573 Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting is a non-profit organization with no parent corporation and no stock. Radio Television Digital News Association is a nonprofit organization that has no parent company and issues no stock. The Society of Environmental Journalists is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization. It has no parent corporation and issues no stock. Society of Professional Journalists is a non-stock corporation with no parent company. The Tully Center for Free Speech is a subsidiary of Syracuse University. iv Case: 21-1301 Document: 00117757004 Page: 6 Date Filed: 06/25/2021 Entry ID: 6430573 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF AUTHORITIES....................................................................................vi STATEMENT OF IDENTITY AND INTEREST OF AMICI CURIAE AND SOURCE OF THEIR AUTHORITY TO FILE THIS BRIEF .................................. 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 2 ARGUMENT ............................................................................................................ 4 I. PROMESA does not preempt Puerto Rico’s public records laws. ................. 5 A. Section 105 only shields the Board from liability for obligations “resulting” from its efforts to carry out PROMESA; it does not supplant the Board’s disclosure obligations arising under Puerto Rico law. ........................................................................................................ 5 B. Section 4 does not preempt disclosure requirements under Puerto Rico law because they are not inconsistent with PROMESA. ...................... 7 II. Congress created the Board to achieve greater transparency and accountability as to Puerto Rico’s finances—a goal entirely consistent with the aim of Puerto Rico’s public records laws. .............................................. 13 A. PROMESA’s legislative history demonstrates the importance of transparency to the Board’s mission. .................................................. 14 B. The district court’s decisions requiring the Board to comply with Puerto Rico’s public records laws has enabled public oversight of the Board’s activities. ............................................................................... 15 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................... 18 v Case: 21-1301 Document: 00117757004 Page: 7 Date Filed: 06/25/2021 Entry ID: 6430573 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Cases Antilles Cement Corp. v. Fortuño, 670 F.3d 310 (1st Cir. 2012) .............................. 8 CPI v. FOMB, No. 17-1743, 2018 WL 2094375 (D.P.R. May 4, 2018) ....................................................passim De J. Cordero v. Prensa Insular De P.R., Inc., 169 F.2d 229 (1st Cir. 1948) ....................................................................... 8, 9, 10 FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 529 U.S. 120 (2000) ......................... 6 Graham Cty. Soil & Water Conservation Dist. v. United States ex rel. Wilson, 559 U.S. 280 (2010) .............................................................................................. 6 Grant’s Dairy—Me., LLC v. Comm’r of Me. Dep’t of Agric., 232 F.3d 8 (1st Cir. 2000) ..................................................................................... 7 Hardt v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co., 560 U.S. 242 (2010) ............................... 6 King v. Burwell, 576 U.S. 473 (2015) ....................................................................... 6 Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr, 518 U.S. 470 (1996) ........................................................... 9 P.R. Dep’t of Consumer Affairs v. Isla Petroleum Corp., 485 U.S. 495, 499 (1988) ...................................................................................... 8 Santiago v. Bobb & El Mundo, Inc., 17 P.R. Offic. Trans. 182 (P.R. 1986) ............ 5 Soto v. Sec’y of Justice, 12 P.R. Offic. Trans. 597 (P.R. 1982) .............. 5, 10, 17, 18 Tobin v. Fed. Express Corp., 775 F.3d 448 (1st Cir. 2014) ...................................... 7 Vázquez-Garced v. FOMB, 945 F.3d 3 (1st Cir. 2019) ........................................... 13 Wis. Pub. Intervenor v. Mortier, 501 U.S. 597 (1991) .............................................. 8 Statutes 48 U.S.C. § 2101, et seq. ..................................................................................passim 50 U.S.C. § 3141 ....................................................................................................... 9 Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 38-431.03 ..........................................................................