This is the Daily Media Update published by the Institute for Free Speech. For press inquiries, please contact [email protected].
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In the News
.....Institute for Free Speech founder and former FEC Chairman Bradley A. Smith joins host Mark Levin to discuss the campaign finance implications of the Trump indictment. Smith joins in the second segment at 13 min 30 seconds.
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New from the Institute for Free Speech
.....The Institute for Free Speech has named Tom Garrett as its new Chief Communications Officer. Garrett will leverage years of communications experience and expertise to help the Institute for Free Speech achieve its mission of strengthening First Amendment protections. The Institute is the nation’s largest organization dedicated solely to protecting First Amendment political speech rights.
“I’m excited and honored to be a part of the Institute for Free Speech,” Garrett said. “I firmly believe that free political speech guaranteed by the First Amendment is our most important right, and the Institute plays an indispensable role in safeguarding that right around the country. I look forward to assisting this organization and its dedicated staff in fulfilling that mission.”
In his new role, Garrett will work to promote the Institute’s work, as well as informing media and members of the public about the critical importance of the rights enshrined in the First Amendment. Prior to joining the Institute, Garrett most recently served as the Director of Communications for the bipartisan nonprofit Council for a Strong America. There, Garrett led hundreds of successful communications campaigns related to early childhood and other issues.
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Supreme Court
.....Wiley Rein LLP filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the Independent Institute, the National Federation of Independent Businesses Small Business Legal Center, Inc., and New Jobs America in a case that could classify canvassers and independent contractors such as grassroots workers, campaign staff, and gig economy workers as employees, which in turn burdens political speech, hurts workers, and financially impacts small and large businesses.
The brief supports the petition for certiorari filed in Mobilize the Message v. Bonta, Case No. 22-865, urging the Supreme Court to review a October 2022 decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. At issue is a California law, Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), that requires that canvassers be classified as employees rather than independent contractors. This policy makes hiring more expensive for the employers and gives less freedom to workers to express their political viewpoint.
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The Courts
By Hannah Schoenbaum, Associated Press
.....Harsher punishments for violent protests in North Carolina are being challenged by a prominent civil rights group, which said in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday that several parts of a new anti-riot law are unconstitutional...
The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina is asking a U.S. District Court to block enforcement of several provisions of the new law, arguing it “impermissibly criminalizes North Carolinians who exercise their fundamental free speech, assembly and petitioning rights.”
“It is a flagrant attempt to vilify and criminalize a social justice movement,” said Sam Davis, an attorney with the ACLU of North Carolina Legal Foundation.
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By Nick Sullivan
.....Two people who were removed from a school board meeting in El Paso County for holding up signs calling for several board members to resign are suing School District 49, alleging that the district violated their constitutional right to free speech.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court, accuses D-49 of treating community members inconsistently based on their viewpoints. In their complaint, plaintiffs Deb Schmidt and Kelly Kohls allege that other community members at previous meetings faced no such punishment for similar actions.
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The States
By Andrew Bahl
.....A Shawnee County judge declined to toss a sweeping series of subpoenas issued to local Republican Party leaders, clearing a potential path for the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission to be able to be enforce the documents in court.
The probe into the campaign finance activities of prominent legislators and state Republican Party officials has become increasingly open in recent months, with the Ethics Commission going to court to enforce the subpoenas and drawing pushback.
The Ethics Commission has alleged that a range of legislators and national GOP groups used a variety of political committees as a pass through to give to the Kansas Republican Party, with ethics officials arguing this allowed them to circumvent limits on donations under the state's campaign finance laws…
The individuals subpoenaed had sought to dismiss the case under the state's Public Speech Protection Act, which allows for a matter to be struck if a person is engaged in activities deemed to be free speech.
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By Matt Friedman
.....Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday defended his decision to sign a controversial bill that overhauls New Jersey’s campaign finance laws, a week after he quietly enacted it.
“I think this does a lot of good in terms of transparency, disclosure, bringing money from outside to inside,” Murphy told reporters Monday at an unrelated press conference.
Murphy had largely avoided comment on the law, dubbed the “Elections Transparency Act” by its sponsors, even though his office appears to have helped shape it with an amendment aimed at ousting Election Law Enforcement Executive Director Jeffrey Brindle from his post. Prior to the amendment, three top Murphy aides tried to force Brindle to resign over an allegedly anti-gay email he authored.
The new law, NJ S2866, is huge in scale: doubling most campaign contributions; allowing political parties to start new “housekeeping accounts” that can raise even more money; requiring disclosure of major donors to political “dark money” nonprofit organizations; and gutting local pay-to-play laws, replacing them with a weakened statewide standard. It also puts a retroactive two-year statute of limitations on ELEC's enforcement actions, which ELEC Deputy Director Joe Donohue estimated will wipe out 80 percent of the cases the agency is currently handling.
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By Daniel Gligich
.....Fresno County’s battle against two Fresno City Council members will continue on with another wrinkle in court.
Fresno City Councilmembers Garry Bredefeld and Luis Chavez filed an Anti-SLAPP motion against the county on Friday in the hopes of getting the campaign finance lawsuit levied against them dismissed.
Earlier this year, Bredefeld and Chavez announced their intent to run for the seats on the Fresno County Board of Supervisors...
Three years ago the board approved an ordinance that set the campaign contribution limits at $30,000 per election, something the county has since argued applies to transfers from one campaign committee to another.
Bredefeld and Chavez both had well over the $30,000 limit in their city council campaign committees at last count.
With Bredefeld and Chavez announcing their intent to transfer all of their funds to their county campaign committee, the board initiated a lawsuit against the council members in an attempt to keep their transfers to $30,000.
Last Friday Bredefeld and Chavez filed an Anti-SLAPP motion, arguing that the county’s $30,000 cap is unconstitutional and unenforceable and asking the court to dismiss the county’s lawsuit altogether.
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Read an article you think we would be interested in? Send it to Tiffany Donnelly at [email protected]. For email filters, the subject of this email will always begin with "Institute for Free Speech Media Update."
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The Institute for Free Speech is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that promotes and defends the First Amendment rights to freely speak, assemble, publish, and petition the government. Please support the Institute's mission by clicking here. For further information, visit www.ifs.org.
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