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

Federalist: Biden Administration Demands Georgia Schools Show Pornography To Kids

.....Shortly after the school district pulled the handful of explicit books, parents gathered at a Feb. 15, 2022 Forsyth County Board of Education meeting to express their concern that children were being exposed to even more explicit books via the school system.

In a complaint filed in July 2022, Mama Bears of Forsyth members Hair, who was barred from school board meetings after attempting to read from another explicit passage in March, and Martin alleged that the Forsyth County Board of Education violated their First Amendment rights as parents to speak up about what kind of reading materials their children are exposed to.

In February 2023, a judge ruled that the FCS board violated Hair and Martin’s constitutional rights and must pay $100,000 in legal fees.

.....A recent change to Maine law creates an unfair and unconstitutional system that gives even more influence to the most powerful political leaders and curtails political speech rights for legislators and donors alike.

That’s why state Representative Laurel Libby and others, including would-be donors, are suing to overturn these restrictions, which violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution...

“Laws that limit the amount of money a person may give to these committees intrude upon the First Amendment freedoms of speech and association,” said Institute for Free Speech Senior Attorney Charles Miller, co-counsel for plaintiffs. “These limits not only infringe on the rights of donors, but on the rights of advocacy groups and the people who operate them as well, including Representative Libby.” ...

To read the complaint in the case, Libby, et al., v. Schneider, et al., click here.

Los Angeles Times: Opinion: The Supreme Court was enabling corruption well before the Clarence Thomas scandal

.....The Supreme Court recently reversed the conviction of a onetime aide and campaign manager for disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The decision may have surprised those who follow Albany’s culture of corruption, but it was thoroughly in keeping with the recent history of the Supreme Court. The Roberts court has been busy deregulating corruption for over a decade.

Courthouse News: Fourth Circuit backs Virginia Tech bias reporting policy

.....A Fourth Circuit majority agreed Wednesday with a district court's determination that Virginia Tech's bias response team does not have a chilling effect on free speech.

"Our country rightfully places great value on the freedom of speech, and any statute or regulation implicating speech receives close scrutiny," the ruling states. "Freedom of speech, after all, is expressly protected in the very first of the original amendments to our Constitution. But the First Amendment does not stand in the way of modest efforts to encourage civility on college campuses."

The opinion penned by U.S. Circuit Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, a Bill Clinton appointee, came after oral arguments in October.

Alliance Defending Freedom: College students seek freedom to speak, associate anonymously

.....Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a proposed friend-of-the-court brief Tuesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit urging it to protect Americans’ right to speak and associate anonymously, free from government-mandated disclosure.

Washington Post: New York DA says Stormy Daniels hush money not Trump’s official duty

By Shayna Jacobs

.....Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) argued on Tuesday that hush money paid in 2016 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels allegedly on Donald Trump’s behalf was not part of an official presidential act and cannot not be grounds for the case being removed to a federal court.

“If an elected official’s political campaign activities do not amount to official conduct, then the campaign activities of a person who has not yet been elected to a federal office do not amount to official conduct either,” the prosecutors wrote in a 32-page legal memo.

OpenSecrets: Watchdog bites Ron DeSantis for alleged “soft money” campaign finance violation

By Taylor Giorno

.....Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis may have violated federal campaign finance law when his old state-level PAC reportedly transferred tens of millions of dollars to the pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down, the nonpartisan watchdog Campaign Legal Center alleges in a new complaint with the Federal Election Commission filed Tuesday morning.

Time: How to Kill Online Free Speech

By Jacob Mchangama and Jeff Kosseff

.....According to a new landmark decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), freedom of expression does not immunize public officials from criminal liability if they fail to promptly remove manifestly illegal content (such as “hate speech”) posted on their accounts by followers. The recent decision reveals the censorial route that Europe’s judiciary is choosing, and it provides a cautionary tale as the U.S. Supreme Court faces many challenges to its robust protections for online speech.

Reason: German Police Investigate Roger Waters Over Concert Wardrobe

.....Rock musician Roger Waters, founder and onetime frontman of Pink Floyd, performed concerts in Berlin on May 17 and 18. During a couple of his former band's classic songs, Waters donned a black military-style uniform with a red armband and fired a prop machine gun into the crowd. The costume bore more than a passing resemblance to a Nazi SS uniform, though with two crossed hammers instead of a swastika.

Politico (New Jersey Playbook): How should state government use AI?

.....Artificial intelligence can write political op-eds and make Gov. Phil Murphy diss tracks. But how should it be used by the state government?

A bill introduced last week by state Sen. Troy Singleton (D-Burlington) caught my eye. It would create an Artificial Intelligence Officer — who would be a subject matter expert on the issue — tasked with regulating the use of artificial intelligence and automated systems in state government. The bill doesn’t directly create rules around artificial intelligence use in state government, but deputizes the new officer to do so. A newly created Artificial Intelligence Advisory Board would advise state agencies on artificial intelligence use and provide feedback on the officer’s proposed regulations.

Washington Post: Meta threatens to block news in California over journalism bill

By Naomi Nix and Cristiano Lima

.....Meta is threatening to block users in California from sharing news articles on its social media networks to protest a state legislative proposal that would force tech companies to pay publishers for their content.

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."  

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.