This is the Daily Media Update published by the Institute for Free Speech. For press inquiries, please contact [email protected].  

Austin American-Statesman: Opinion: Bill endangers the ability of Texans to speak freely

.....Texans should take pride in the fact that their state has one of the strongest free-speech protections against frivolous lawsuits in the country.  Unfortunately, a bill currently making its way through the Texas Legislature would remove some of these protections and damage the ability of Texans to speak freely...

Election Law Blog: Paul Clement leads cert petition in Mazo v. New Jersey Secretary of State on ballot speech issue

.....Late last year here at ELB, I highlighted the Third Circuit’s decision in Mazo v. New Jersey Secretary of State. (Disclosure: I filed an amicus brief in that case.) Check out that post for more on the background.

Paul Clement is leading the legal team that has just filed a petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court. The docket for the case is here. Here’s how the question presented is framed:

New York Times: Disney Sues DeSantis Over Control of Its Florida Resort

By Brooks Barnes

.....Last year, under pressure from its employees, Disney criticized a Florida education law prohibiting classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity for young students. Almost instantly, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida started calling the company “Woke Disney” and vowing to show it who was boss...

Disney has quietly maneuvered to protect itself, enraging the governor and his allies. On Wednesday, however, the company decided enough was enough: Disney filed a First Amendment lawsuit against Mr. DeSantis and a five-member board that oversees government services at Disney World in federal court, claiming “a targeted campaign of government retaliation.”

Washington Post: Fugees rapper Pras Michél guilty in sprawling corruption trial

By Paul Duggan

.....Fugees rapper Pras Michél was found guilty in a sprawling criminal corruption trial arising from one of the world’s biggest financial scandals after a three-week trial in federal court.

New York Times: Michigan Students Sue School District Over ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ Ban

By Lauren McCarthy

.....A mother of two students in Howard City, Mich., filed a lawsuit claiming the public school district violated her sons’ First Amendment rights by asking them to remove sweatshirts with the slogan “Let’s go Brandon” on them.

The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday against the Michigan Tri County Area Schools district, an assistant principal and a teacher, claims that their school censored her sons’ “peaceful, non-disruptive politics” by having them take off the sweatshirts, causing them “to suffer irreparable injury.”

Bangor Daily News: Conservative activist faces Maine school boards in free-speech court cases

By Judy Harrison

.....Conservative activist Shawn McBreairty will have his days in court this week in separate proceedings concerning two different school districts over what he claims are efforts to limit his right to free speech.

The cases could have wide implications for Maine schools at a time when even small towns are seeing divisive and nationalized battles over LGBTQ and gender identity issues. McBreairty, who has already won a settlement from RSU 22, is challenging a Maine law that requires a public comment time during school board meetings but allows boards to establish “reasonable standards” for the public comment period.

Wall Street Journal: Senators Introduce Bipartisan Bill Mandating Code of Ethics for Supreme Court

By Lindsay Wise and Jess Bravin

.....Sens. Angus King (I., Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) introduced a bipartisan bill Wednesday that would require the U.S. Supreme Court to create its own code of conduct within a year, following media reports that raise questions about whether Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch properly disclosed their financial activities...

Fox News: FEC acknowledges it imposes no 'security guardrails' to protect Americans from fraudulent online donations

By Elizabeth Elkind

.....Exclusive: Weeks after a damning report accused Democrat fundraising machine ActBlue of failing to protect Americans from fraudulent donations, the Federal Election Commission acknowledged it does not impose any specific security measures on political groups that solicit money online, and that's because nothing in federal law requires those measures.

"[The Federal Election Commission Act] does not impose requirements for specific safety or security guardrails that political committees must use to accept online donations," the FEC said in a response to a letter sent by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in which he demanded to know what rules were in place for the online donations received by political committees and campaigns.

Florida Politics: Defamation law overhaul despised on the left and right dies in dwindling days of Session

.....Call it ‘the day the defamation bill died’: Lawmakers on both sides of the rotunda shelved a contentious overhaul of state defamation law Thursday, saying they were too far apart for compromise.

Sponsors in both the House and Senate confirm they have ceased negotiations on the measure. The legislation, which drew criticism from media voices across the political spectrum, would have lowered the threshold to sue media outlets and others.

The bill is sponsored by Sen. Jason Brodeur, a Lake Mary Republican, in the Senate (SB 1220) and Rep. Alex Andrade, a Pensacola Republican, in the House (HB 991).

People United for Privacy: New Mexico House Rejects Anti-Privacy Bill Amid Ongoing Lawsuit

.....New Mexico can be a hard place to support causes doing important work around the state. A state law passed in 2019 forces citizens to surrender their privacy when donating to nonprofits that speak out about public policy. New Mexico not only tracks your giving, it makes that information – along with your name and address – publicly available in an online database where anyone can use and abuse it.

The state is currently being sued by two nonprofit organizations – the Albuquerque-based Rio Grande Foundation and Chicago-based Illinois Opportunity Project – who argue that the law violates their members’ constitutional rights. The Supreme Court has long protected the freedom to privately support social causes as a key component of the First Amendment. When Americans’ beliefs and associations are exposed, they can be harassed into silence, undermining our freedom of speech and weakening our democracy.

NJ.com: N.J. school board to file ethics charges against member suspected of transphobic tweets

.....A Hunterdon County school board voted unanimously Monday night to file a complaint with the state School Ethics Commission against a fellow board member suspected of owning a Twitter account condemned as transphobic and discriminatory.

Members of the Hunterdon Central Regional High School Board of Education authorized board president Lisa Hughes to file ethics charges against board member Rebecca Petersen on the board’s behalf after conducting an investigation into allegations Petersen was behind the controversial account.

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