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

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.

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

.....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.

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.

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.

Free Beacon: SPLC Researcher Who Labeled 'Moms for Liberty' a Hate Group Met Biden National Security Officials

.....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.

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...

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.

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...

Reason: A City Banned Pride Month–Themed Library Displays. Then It Threatened Employees Who Criticized the Decision.

.....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.

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

.....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.

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