The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech June 13, 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]. The Courts Bloomberg Law: FEC Complaint Alleging Trump Election Fraud Revived on Appeal By Ufonobong Umanah .....An after-the-fact filing from the Federal Election Commission isn’t enough to dismiss claims Trump’s 2020 campaign violated election law, the DC Circuit ruled Friday. The Trump campaign solicited funds for allied super PAC America First Action in violation of election law, alleged the End Citizens United PAC. With one member of the FEC recused, and despite the commission’s general counsel recommending an investigation, the vote to investigate the allegations deadlocked 3-2 and was closed. End Citizens United sued for an explanation, but the Commission never defended itself in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, except for the two dissenting commissioners—then Vice Chair Allen Dickerson and Commissioner Sean J. Cooksey—who said in a statement they used their prosecutorial discretion to decline to investigate. The lower court determined that, though the statement came four days after the PAC filed their complaint, this was enough to dismiss a motion for default judgment. But the commissioners “were obligated to issue a contemporaneous statement” explaining their votes, Judge Judith W. Rogers of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit wrote, reversing the lower court... The case is End Citizens United PAC v. FEC, D.C. Cir., No. 22-05176, 6/9/23. Bloomberg Law: D.C. Stalking Law Upheld But Narrowed in Free Speech Challenge By Peter Hayes .....The District of Columbia’s stalking statute, which bars communications that cause “emotional distress,” doesn’t violate the free speech clause of the US Constitution, the city’s highest court ruled. The law “restricts all manner of speech, without regard to its truth or falsity, and without regard to whether it is of public or purely private concern,” the en banc District of Columbia Court of Appeals said Thursday. But the law survives because its savings clause states that it doesn’t apply “to constitutionally protected activity,” the court said in an opinion by Judge Joshua A. Deahl. DOJ New York Times: F.B.I. Investigating Spy Ring’s Political Contributions By Adam Goldman and Mark Mazzetti .....Federal prosecutors are investigating possible campaign finance violations in connection with an undercover operation based in Wyoming that aimed to infiltrate progressive groups, political campaigns and the offices of elected representatives before the 2020 election, according to two people familiar with the matter and documents related to the case. As part of the operation, revealed in 2021 by The New York Times, participants used large campaign donations and cover stories to gain access to their targets and gather dirt to sabotage the reputations of people and organizations considered threats to the agenda of President Donald J. Trump. In recent days, prosecutors have issued subpoenas for at least two of the people The Times identified as being part of the operation, including Richard Seddon, a former British spy, and Susan Gore, a Wyoming heiress to the Gore-Tex fortune, the people said. The subpoenas were reported earlier by CNN. According to one of the subpoenas reviewed by The Times, prosecutors and F.B.I. agents in Washington are seeking a trove of information related to the political spying operation, including documents related to Mr. Seddon’s firm, Branch Six Consulting International, along with at least two other entities registered in his name. Free Expression Free Beacon: SPLC Researcher Who Labeled 'Moms for Liberty' a Hate Group Met Biden National Security Officials By Chuck Ross .....The author of a Southern Poverty Law Center report that labels parental rights organizations as extremist hate groups met earlier this year with Biden National Security Council officials, according to White House records. Susan Corke, the director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project, this week added Moms for Liberty, Parents Defending Education, and other parent organizations to its "hate map," alongside neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan. Corke visited the White House on Jan. 6, 2023, and met with National Security Council counterterrorism director John Picarelli, according to White House visitor logs reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon. Corke, a former State Department official, was accompanied by researchers from American University who work with the SPLC. The SPLC's access to the White House is likely to draw outcry from Republicans who have long questioned the left-wing group's arbitrary "hate map" designations. The inclusion of parent groups could raise concerns that the organizations could become targets of violence. A gunman who shot a security guard at the headquarters of the Family Research Council in 2012 said he attacked the pro-family organization after seeing it listed as a hate group by the SPLC. Nonprofits Wall Street Journal: George Soros Hands Control to His 37-Year-Old Son: ‘I’m More Political’ By Gregory Zuckerman .....George Soros, the legendary investor, philanthropist and right-wing target, is handing control of his $25 billion empire to a younger son—Alexander Soros... “I’m more political,” Alex said, compared with his father. He recently met with Biden administration officials, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and heads of state, including Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to advocate for issues related to the family foundation... Alex said he was concerned about the prospect of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, suggesting a significant financial role for the Soros organization in the 2024 presidential race. “As much as I would love to get money out of politics, as long as the other side is doing it, we will have to do it, too,” he said in an interview at the fund manager’s New York offices. In contrast with some on the left, Alex believes that speech on college campuses and elsewhere has become too restricted. “I have some differences with my generation in regard to free speech and other things—I grew up watching Bill Maher before bed, after all,” he said, referring to the TV personality and First Amendment advocate... In December, the OSF board elected Alex as its chairman, replacing his father. Alex also now directs political activity as president of Soros’s super PAC. Candidates and Campaigns New York Times: DeSantis Finds a New Set of Laws to Ignore By David Firestone .....There’s a reason that state political committees can’t just transfer their money into presidential super PACs. The Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which led to the creation of super PACs, said plainly that those committees had to be independent of a candidate’s campaign in order to receive unlimited contributions. But Friends of Ron DeSantis, as a state committee, was never independent of its namesake. He signed the paperwork to set it up in 2018, and listed himself as the person to solicit and accept all of its contributions. That was true until May 5 of this year, when he filed another official letter with the state saying that he was no longer soliciting or accepting contributions... The State of Florida certainly knew it was wrong to transfer money from a state campaign fund to a federal one. Since at least 2016, the biennial handbook issued by the Florida Division of Elections had expressly prohibited that move. “A Florida political committee must use its funds solely for Florida political activities,” the handbook said. But as NBC News reported, the DeSantis administration quietly deleted that wording, and this year’s version of the handbook conveniently says for the first time that such transfers are allowed. The new handbook bases its reasoning on the Citizens United decision — which of course had been in effect for 13 years, including when the handbook prohibited the move. The Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit group that closely monitors these kinds of transactions, has filed a complaint against the DeSantis campaign with the Federal Election Commission, saying the transfer is illegal. But as Team DeSantis knows, the commission has deadlocked so often — with three Republicans countering three Democrats — that it has become toothless. In a similar but smaller case last year when a Republican member of the House tried to transfer state campaign funds, the commission refused to take action after the usual 3-to-3 vote. The States New York Times: N.Y. Lawmakers Pass Clean Slate Act as Session Fizzles to an End By Luis Ferré-Sadurní and Grace Ashford .....Last-minute changes to campaign finance reform: In 2019, Democrats moved to limit the influence of special interests in New York State politics by instituting public campaign financing... But in the waning hours of session, Democrats pushed through a series of last-minute amendments, several of which have raised concerns among government watchdogs that Democrats were trying to water down the original reforms. The changes, which passed the Assembly and Senate on Friday, are expected to benefit incumbents, helping Democrats fend off Republicans and primary challenges. One of the changes, for example, will raise the number of in-district donors required to qualify for matching funds, while another would extend the public matching funds to larger contributions. Democrats defended the changes, saying they were intended to clarify the program and to keep it from being abused by unserious candidates... John Kaehny, the executive director of Reinvent Albany, a government watchdog, said that the Democrats’ move to weaken their own law was “shameful,” particularly in the context of national threats to democracy. “I think it’s embarrassing for Democrats everywhere who are campaigning for free and fair elections,” he said. Reason: A City Banned Pride Month–Themed Library Displays. Then It Threatened Employees Who Criticized the Decision. By Emma Camp .....City officials in Orem, Utah, have banned its public library from setting up displays highlighting Pride Month, Black History Month, and Hispanic Heritage Month, along with other heritage-themed holidays. And then they banned librarians from criticizing the city's decision—threatening to discipline them for "insubordination." But now, the Utah Library Association (ULA) has threatened to sue, teaming up with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a First Amendment nonprofit, to warn the city that it could soon face a lawsuit for violating librarians' First Amendment rights. Bloomberg Law: First ChatGPT Defamation Lawsuit to Test AI’s Legal Liability By Isaiah Poritz .....A defamation lawsuit filed against the artificial intelligence company OpenAI LLC will provide the first foray into the largely untested legal waters surrounding the popular program ChatGPT. Georgia radio host Mark Walters claimed in his June 5 lawsuit that ChatGPT produced the text of a legal complaint that accused him of embezzling money from a gun rights group. The problem is, Walters says, he’s never been accused of embezzlement or worked for the group in question. The AI-generated complaint, which was provided to a journalist using ChatGPT to research an actual court case, is entirely fake, according to Walters’ lawsuit filed in Georgia state court. People United for Privacy: Experts Agree: Arizona’s Prop 211 Leaves Many Questions Unanswered By Luke Wachob .....Campaign finance attorneys and nonprofit leaders on both sides of the aisle agree on one thing about Arizona’s Proposition 211: they don’t know how nonprofits are supposed to comply with the law. On June 6, a panel of experts discussed the constitutional implications and practical realities of Arizona Prop 211, which passed last November, at an event sponsored by People United for Privacy and moderated by the Arizona Capitol Times. Yet ambiguity in the law’s definitions make it difficult for even the most experienced minds to decipher the measure’s provisions. That will be a significant obstacle for the law as it faces lawsuits in both state and federal court asserting that it violates citizens’ rights under the Arizona and U.S. Constitutions, respectively. 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 ‌ ‌ ‌ The Institute for Free Speech | 1150 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 801, Washington, DC 20036 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by [email protected]