The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech May 23, 2023 Click here to subscribe to the Daily Media Update. This is the Daily Media Update published by the Institute for Free Speech. For press inquiries, please contact [email protected]. In the News People United for Privacy: House Republicans Warn of Future IRS Scandals at ACE Act Hearing By Luke Wachob .....Civic-minded Americans are increasingly looking for shelter from partisan combat and cancel culture. Lawmakers in 17 states have taken up the call by passing new protections for personal privacy. On May 11, the U.S. Committee on House Administration considered whether Congress ought to join the trend. In a hearing titled “American Confidence in Elections: Protecting Political Speech,” the committee cast a spotlight on the insufficient privacy protections afforded to Americans when supporting nonprofit causes. The ability to target a group’s individual supporters for harassment and retribution is one of the leading threats to freedom of speech and association today. People United for Privacy Vice President Matt Nese submitted a statement for the record urging Congress to take action to defend citizens who donate their time and support to nonprofits aiding their communities... “As we sit here today, all these years later, do you feel like we are still vulnerable to [IRS targeting] happening again?” Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) asked the panel. “We clearly are,” answered Bradley A. Smith, Chairman and Founder of the Institute for Free Speech. “Really what we need to do is get the IRS out of enforcing campaign finance law.” The Center Square (NJ): Supreme Court takes up New Jersey political ‘slogan’ statutes By Christian Wade .....The Supreme Court is taking up a legal challenge to a New Jersey law that allows political candidates to include a short phrase next to their name on the ballot but restricts what they can say to voters... New Jersey's so-called "slogan statutes" allow candidates listed on the primary ballot to include a six-word message to voters. The 1930 law lets candidates highlight their commitment to a platform or identify with a faction of their political party. But the law prohibits candidates from using the name of any individual unless they've received written consent. Two candidates for U.S. House seats, both Democrats, sued New Jersey in 2020 after they were blocked from listing specific groups and businesses next to their names on their ballots. They argued it violated the First Amendment by restricting political speech. Lisa McCormick was blocked from using her campaign slogan, which criticized Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, according to court filings. At the same time, Eugene Mazo was prevented from naming local wings of the New Jersey Democratic party in his ballot slogan. "New Jersey’s regulation of campaign slogans is one of the country’s most blatant violations of candidates’ right to free speech," Ryan Morrison, an attorney with the Institute for Free Speech, who argued the case in federal court, said in a 2020 statement. "The state effectively allows groups to register slogans just to prevent candidates from using them." The Courts Springfield News-Leader: ACLU, ADF file brief urging reversal of $300K award in Springfield Public Schools lawsuit By Susan Szuch .....An amicus brief urging the reversal of attorney's fees in a case involving Springfield Public Schools finds the ACLU of Missouri with some strange bedfellows. Americans for Prosperity Foundation, the Alliance Defending Freedom, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies, the Reason Foundation and the ACLU of Missouri are all supporting public school staff members who were plaintiffs in the case of Henderson v. School District of Springfield R-12. Ed. note: The Institute for Free Speech also filed a joint amicus brief with the Manhattan Institute in support of the school staff (appellants). Read it here. Fox News: Michigan State professor forced students to pay $99 for left-wing causes: lawsuit By Brianna Herlihy .....A Michigan State University (MSU) professor has been sued for allegedly forcing her students to pay $99 each to her personal political advocacy organization, which ultimately helped fund Planned Parenthood and other left-leaning causes and allegedly violated the students' free speech rights. According to a lawsuit filed Thursday, Amy Wisner, professor of marketing at the MSU College of Business compelled each of her 600 students to pay a $99 membership fee to join an outside organization called "The Rebellion Community" as a condition of participation in her course. The court document says Wisner controlled The Rebellion Community and used the membership fees to finance her own political advocacy and to support external groups like Planned Parenthood and progressive causes dedicated to "dismantling oppressive systems." According to the lawsuit Wisner linked to a Facebook page associated with "The Rebellion Community" and wrote, "The Rebellion community is a safe place to coordinate our efforts to burn everything to the f***ing ground." Attorneys at the Alliance Defending Freedom are representing students Nathan Barbieri and Nolan Radomski who say that their money was used by their professor to engage in political speech that is "antithetical to [their] deeply held beliefs," and therefore their First Amendment rights were violated... According to the complaint Wisner used the funds collected from students — to the tune of around $60,000 — to also purchase an RV. Courthouse News: TikTok fights Montana ban with First Amendment lawsuit By Edvard Pettersson .....TikTok filed a First Amendment lawsuit Monday to stop Montana from implementing its wholesale ban of the Chinese-owned video-sharing app that is set to go into effect Jan. 1. "This unprecedented and extreme step of banning a major platform for First Amendment speech, based on unfounded speculation about potential foreign government access to user data and the content of the speech, is flatly inconsistent with the Constitution," TikTok said in a complaint filed Monday in federal court in Missoula, Montana. FEC New York Post: FEC fines Bill de Blasio’s 2020 presidential campaign $53K: report By Emily Crane .....A nonpartisan ethics watchdog on Monday hailed the Federal Election Commission’s earlier decision to impose a $53,100 fine on committees tied to former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s failed 2020 presidential campaign. The FEC’s report detailing the de Blasio fine, which was handed down last month, was among a handful of closed cases that were officially made public late last week. The commission issued the fine after the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) and nonprofit Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint in 2019 alleging de Blasio’s campaign had allowed donors to improperly donate to the ex-mayor’s presidential bid by routing money through two political action committees. “There is no gray area here. You simply can not use a state PAC as a slush fund for a presidential campaign,” FACT executive director Kendra Arnold said in a statement Monday. OCR Washington Post: Book removals may have violated student civil rights, Education Dept. says By Hannah Natanson and Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff .....In a move that could affect how schools handle book challenges, the federal government has concluded that a Georgia school district’s removal of titles with Black and LGBTQ characters may have created a “hostile environment” for students, potentially violating their civil rights. The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights released its findings in a letter Friday wrapping up its investigation into Forsyth County Schools’ 2022 decision to pull nearly a dozen books from shelves after parents complained of titles’ sexual and LGBTQ content. To resolve the investigation, the district north of Atlanta agreed to offer “supportive measures” to students affected by the book removals and to administer a school climate survey, per the letter. Free Expression Daily Mail: Shocking moment woke NYC college professor hurls foul-mouthed abuse at students over pro-life stand and accuses them of 'triggering' others, before angrily DESTROYING their display By Stephen M. Lepore .....A professor at a New York City art college has drawn the ire of social media after a video showed her hurling obscenities at pro life students over a display at their school that she eventually destroyed... A video posted by a pro-life group from early in May shows her stopping at what claimed to be an educational pro life display at Hunter College in the City University of New York, which is taxpayer funded. A spokesperson for the school has said an investigation is underway. 'You're not educating s***,' Rodriguez said to one of the students. 'This is f***ing propaganda. What are you going to do, like, anti-trans next? This is bulls***. This is violent. You're triggering my students.' The States Boston.com: YouTubers film, insult public workers in towns across Mass. for self-declared ‘First Amendment audits’ By John Hilliard, The Boston Globe .....The scuffle in Lexington’s public library last month was short but seen by thousands: a patron grappled with another man as they wrestled over a camera tripod, as the confrontation was livestreamed on YouTube. Two men, Joshua Abrams and Leonard Filipowski, had set up the camera inside the library to conduct a so-called First Amendment audit, a kind of performative protest that tests their free speech rights by confronting government employees in public places, often provoking objections that generate viewership... Abrams is one of the more prolific local creators of such videos, which generally follow the same basic formula. Tulsa World: Stitt vetoes bill to reduce his control of Oklahoma Turnpike Authority board By Carmen Forman .....Stitt on Monday also vetoed a bill that would make a one-word change to the Oklahoma Citizens Participation Act, which is intended to prevent the use of lawsuits or threats of lawsuits to intimidate or silence critics exercising their First Amendment rights. House Bill 1236 sought to make it harder for a person who is sued for defamation and successfully proves their First Amendment right to speech to collect attorney fees from the party who brought the lawsuit. Oklahoma Press Association Executive Vice President Mark Thomas said the bill would have had a chilling effect on Oklahomans’ willingness to express themselves and speak the truth for fear of facing a costly lawsuit. Epic Charter Schools in 2020 was ordered to pay former state Sen. Ron Sharp’s $36,000 in legal fees after a judge determined the school district filed a frivolous lawsuit against the lawmaker after he publicly questioned administrative decisions at the charter school system. Epic was also ordered to pay Sharp $500,000 in sanctions. The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs urged Stitt to veto HB 1236. OCPA invoked the Citizens Protection Act after being sued by Oklahoma City-based Paycom over an article the conservative think tank published about the company’s CEO. 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