 Over the four years prior to the bill's introduction, the Sudanese government and their allied organizations had killed more than 400,000 people and displaced more than 2.5 million in Sudan's Darfur region.Ellis helped pass the Free Flow of Information Act in 2009 to protect journalists from being forced to testify or disclose confidential sources.The law aimed to balance the public's right to know the truth from an independent press and the state's ability to uphold justice.