HARTFORD — First Amendment scholar and legal activist Floyd Abrams will be honored with the Connecticut Foundation for Open Government’s prestigious Walter Cronkite Freedom of Information Award, it is announced today. The award is part of the organization’s celebration marking the 40th anniversary of Connecticut’s pioneering Freedom of Information Act.
“Floyd Abrams is a titan on First Amendment issues and a tireless gladiator in the efforts to preserve the public’s right to an open government,” said CFOG President Gary Gold in announcing the honor. “Abrams has been tirelessly at the forefront of nearly every significant First Amendment battle on the public’s behalf — from the Pentagon Papers to today. He is truly a giant as a litigator, author and educator.”
The Connecticut Foundation for Open Government’s Walter Cronkite award is presented only every five years. Previous recipients have included Cronkite, Jim Lehrer, Louis Boccardi, Seymour Hersh and, most recently, Bob Woodward.
“Floyd Abrams’s long and continuing career has been instrumental in battling efforts to chip away the public’s most basic freedoms,” Gold said. “It also reflects the long and continuing need for just such commitment and vigilance as officials everywhere unendingly seek to deny the public its rights to freedom of speech and access to government activities, ” Gold said.
Abrams will be presented with the Cronkite Award at an honors dinner at Amarante’s Sea Cliff in New Haven on October 22, 2015 at 6:30 p.m., reception with banquet to follow. For tickets and more information, the public is invited to visit the organization’s webpage ctfog.org or contact Denis Horgan at Denis@Bluefoot.tv
The Connecticut Foundation for Open Government is dedicated to promoting open and accountable government by educating policymakers and citizens in general on the need for a free flow of information on all public policy matters. The first-in-the-nation Connecticut Freedom of Information Act sets a national standard for open government — but has faced consistent challenge to erode its values.
In addition to his legal work, Abrams also teaches First Amendment courses at Columbia and Yale Universities and has helped endow the Floyd Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression at the Yale Law School. Awarded uncounted honors and tributes, he is a partner in Cahill Gordon & Reindel’s litigation practice group.
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