June 9, 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

Fox News: Professor sues CA college that fired colleague over conservative opinions: 'Culled like a disruptive animal'

By Taylor Penley

.....A California history professor is taking a stand for First Amendment rights, filing a lawsuit last week alleging his employer, which fired his former colleague for sharing personal political beliefs, has since stifled his own.

The lawsuit, filed by The Institute for Free Speech on behalf of Bakersfield College Professor Daymon Johnson, alleged the school terminated Johnson's colleague Professor Matthew Garrett for expressing conservative views in various spaces, including via op-eds and radio appearances, adding that Johnson himself fears what may happen if the college continues to crack down on his own expression.

"Plaintiff Daymon Johnson has special reason to be concerned about his future as a Bakersfield College professor should he continue to express his views," the lawsuit reads, in part.

Post Bulletin: Alec Greven: Protecting democracy, or gagging businesses?

By Alec Greven

.....On April 26, the Minnesota Senate passed the “Democracy for the People Act” by a single vote, and, earlier this month, Gov. Tim Walz signed the bill into law. While the legislation mainly covers voting registration and absentee ballots, buried at the end is an attack on First Amendment freedoms — the foundation of our democracy.

Specifically, this legislation dramatically limits the ability of many companies to speak on topics of public concern. It strips the rights of any so-called “foreign-influenced” company to speak in support or opposition to candidates for election or ballot questions.

The standard for what makes a company “foreign-influenced” is laughably low and often practically impossible to determine. If a single foreign investor owns just 1% of a company’s shares, that makes a company “foreign-influenced,” and it loses speaking rights. Additionally, if multiple foreign owners in aggregate have shares that total 5% of a company’s shares, then that qualifies the company as “foreign-influenced.”

Publicly traded companies are under even more pressure.

The Courts

Tampa Bay Times: Anti-abortion group sues Clearwater over its clinic buffer zone

By Tracey McManus

.....Before the Clearwater City Council voted unanimously on March 2 to create a buffer zone at an abortion clinic due to volatile confrontations with protesters, Florida Preborn Rescue member Allen Tuthill warned what would happen next.

“The intention of this ordinance is to suppress free speech of pro-life sidewalk counselors,” Tuthill said at the lectern. “I believe the taxpayers of Clearwater are going to be buying an expensive lawsuit if this passes.”

Now Tuthill and the Pinellas Park-based Preborn Rescue have filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Clearwater. The nonprofit organization alleges the demonstration-free zone that allows patients to access the Bread and Roses Women’s Health Center violates protesters’ First Amendment rights and “targets the speech of people with a pro-life viewpoint.”

The Media

New York Post: ‘Moral force’ ProPublica under fire for taking millions from secret donors they court at ritzy parties

By Dana Kennedy and Isabel Vincent

.....The donor-funded ProPublica news organization bills itself as an “independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force… shining a light on abuses of power and betrayals of public trust.”

But conservative activists are calling foul, saying that ProPublica, founded in 2007 by former Wall Street Journal editor Paul Steiger, has a left-wing bias and is funded mainly by left-wing fat cat donors including George Soros — some of whom are not named by the news site.

They say ProPublica’s reporters and editors — some of whom are very well-paid according to tax filings — attack right-leaning figures and organizations, often for a lack of transparency, without actually revealing all the names of their own donors.

The States

Denver Post: With first-of-its-kind law, Colorado officials can now block you on social media

By Seth Klamann

.....Elected officials in Colorado can now ban people from their private social media pages for any reason under a bipartisan bill signed into law Monday, a first-of-its-kind statute that’s prompted criticism from First Amendment advocates.

But with a potentially decisive U.S. Supreme Court decision looming, will the new law stand?

HB23-1306, enacted into law with Gov. Jared Polis’ signature, seeks to draw a line between officials’ public and private social media pages. Under the law, a public page — like one linked directly to an office or run using public resources — couldn’t ban anyone from interacting with it. But a private one — an account that predates an official’s election or one that’s kept distinct from official action — now can.

It’s the first law of its kind in the United States, First Amendment experts and the bill’s proponents say. It follows standards set by a federal appellate court, which ruled in 2022 that a Michigan city manager could ban a frequent critic from his personal Facebook page.

Courthouse News: NRA can’t assert bias defense to New York lawsuit

By Josh Russell

.....Ahead of a potential fall trial on alleged financial improprieties within the National Rifle Association, a New York state judge refused Thursday to let the group claim as its defense that the lawsuit against it is politically motivated.

Attorneys for the NRA have long alleged that New York Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation into the gun organization is a retaliatory one, motivated solely by a desire to silence the group's advocacy of the Second Amendment.

After lengthy oral arguments Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court, Justice Joel Cohen turned down a bid by the NRA to revisit counterclaims for bias that the court has already rejected. It was also Cohen who threw out nearly identical counterclaims practically a year ago to the day at the motion-to-dismiss stage.

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 political rights to free speech, press, assembly, and petition guaranteed by the First Amendment. Please support the Institute's mission by clicking here. For further information, visit www.ifs.org.

Follow the Institute for Free Speech