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The ACLU of Northern California filed an amici curiae brief on behalf of librarians and archivists urging the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a lower court's decision allowing the government to preclude public access to the original writings of Ted Kaczynski. Kaczynski, who pled guilty to the "Unabomber" crimes, plans to donate his journals to the University of Michigan. The University, which has agreed to receive them, houses a special collection of materials on radical social and political movements, known as the Joseph Labadie Collection.The Freedom to Read Foundation, founded by the American Library Association, and the Society of American Archivists, appearing as friends of the court, contend "that the original documents should be preserved and made accessible to scholars, researchers, and the general public, and that the First Amendment precludes irrational and arbitrary government action that could needlessly result in the destruction or deterioration of the papers and denial of public access." Read more athttp://www.aclunc.org/pressrel/041020-speech.html