The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech June 27, 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 Daily Mail: California school district is sued after administrator said he wanted to bring voices that oppose DEI measure 'to the slaughterhouse' and another called America a 'f*****g piece of s*** nation' By Emma James .....A California school administrator who was named in a lawsuit brought by a faculty member said he wanted to bring voices who opposed diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives 'to the slaughterhouse.' Professor Daymon Johnson filed a suit against Bakersfield College after claiming he was targeted for being outspoken about his political beliefs. It was filed after Johnson replied to a post from another faculty member who had called America a 'f***ing piece of s**** nation.' Supreme Court SCOTUSblog: Petitions of the Week: North Carolina seeks to enforce undercover workplace-recording ban against PETA By Kalvis Golde .....People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals conducts investigations around the country as part of its efforts to combat the mistreatment of animals. To accomplish these exposés, PETA’s members occasionally pose as employees of other businesses and secretly record workplace operations taking place in private areas. This week, we highlight cert petitions that ask the court to consider, among other things, PETA’s First Amendment challenge to a North Carolina law that imposes monetary damages on undercover workplace recording. The Courts Washington Examiner: The ACLU sides with bureaucrats against the little guy By Matt Lamb .....Townstone Financial is currently battling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in federal court for comments its personnel made about crime and dangerous parts of the south suburbs and the South Side of Chicago... Now the company finds its free speech rights facing an ironic opponent: the national ACLU and its Illinois affiliate, which filed a brief against the company . . . The irony is not lost on Barry Sturner, the president of Townstone Financial, who points out that the organization once infamously represented neo-Nazis who wanted to march through Skokie, Illinois, in 1977 when he was a child. “I grew up as a Jewish kid in Skokie, Illinois — the site of one of the most famous free speech battles in American history,” Sturner told the Washington Examiner. “To this day, the ACLU boasts their defense of the Nazis who wanted to march through my hometown. And rightfully so; the First Amendment must protect unpopular speech if it's going to mean anything at all.” “I never imagined that when the government came after me for my speech, the ACLU would take the government's side,” Sturner said. “It's disheartening to see the ACLU abandon its free speech principles.” Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): Challenge to Georgia BDS Law Loses on Qualified Immunity Grounds By Eugene Volokh .....I think they are facially constitutional, and Arkansas Times LP v. Waldrip (8th Cir. 2022) (en banc) was correct in upholding them (see also Prof. Michael Dorf's, Prof. Andrew Koppelman's, and my amicus brief on the subject, as well as Prof. Dorf's follow-up post). At the same time, they, like other antidiscrimination laws, might be unconstitutional as applied in certain situations, perhaps including selection of speakers at an academic conference (though the question is complicated when the government is acting as contractor). But yesterday's Eleventh Circuit decision by Judges Wilson, Branch, and Luck in Martin v. Chancellor avoids the question: DOJ Washington Post: Justice Dept. asking about 2020 fraud claims as well as fake electors By Josh Dawsey and Devlin Barrett .....The Justice Department’s investigation of efforts by Donald Trump and his advisers to overturn the 2020 election results is barreling forward on multiple tracks, according to people familiar with the matter, with prosecutors focused on ads and fundraising pitches claiming election fraud as well as plans for “fake electors” that would swing the election to the incumbent president. Each track poses potential legal peril for those under scrutiny, but also raises tricky questions about where the line should be drawn between political activity, legal advocacy and criminal conspiracy. Congress Fox News: House Weaponization Committee: Biden admin 'colluded' with Big Tech, 'facilitated the censorship of Americans' By Brooke Singman .....The House Weaponization Subcommittee says the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has "facilitated the censorship of Americans directly" and through third-party intermediaries during the Biden administration. Fox News Digital first obtained a new committee report Monday, stemming from the panel’s ongoing investigation into government-induced censorship on social media. The report focuses on CISA's alleged work ahead of the 2020 election and the 2022 midterm elections. Free Expression New York Times: Margaret Gilleo, 84, Dies; Made a Yard Sign a Free-Speech Beacon By Daniel E. Slotnik .....Margaret Gilleo, who turned a local dispute over an antiwar sign on her lawn into a freedom-of-speech showdown at the Supreme Court, died on June 8 at her home in Ladue, Mo. She was 84... Ms. Gilleo (pronounced GILL-ee-oh) never set out to be a First Amendment crusader. But she refused to allow her rights to be impinged upon, even if neighbors questioned her patriotism or her propriety. “I consider myself extremely patriotic,” she told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1991. “I love this country. I love the flag, and I would never burn it. But I reserve the right to dissent.” It all began in December 1990, when the United States was on the verge of the Persian Gulf war. Ms. Gilleo expressed her opposition to the conflict with a 3-by-2-foot sign that said: “Say no to war in the Persian Gulf. Call Congress now.” Philanthropy Wall Street Journal: A Tax Deduction Won’t Save U.S. Charities By Leslie Lenkowsky .....High inflation is hitting America’s charities. Donations last year dropped by 3.4% from 2021 levels, or 10.5% after adjusting for inflation, according to the Giving USA report released this week. Never in its more than 60-year history has this annual report recorded so steep a single-year decline in real dollars... All kinds of charities saw giving slide. Inflation-adjusted declines for education and “public-society benefit” organizations (such as political advocacy, community development and policy research groups) exceeded the national drop, while giving to the arts, environment and human services almost matched it. Independent Groups Politico: The super PAC frenzy redefining campaign operations By Jessica Piper and Sally Goldenberg .....Super PACs have been growing in strength for more than a decade, but this cycle are swimming in more money than ever. They have started earlier, with more than $14 million in independent expenditures in the primary already, according to federal data, compared with around $950,000 at this time in 2015. The groups are also taking new approaches, deploying staffing at campaign events, paying for door-knocking operations and even sending fundraising texts on candidates’ behalf. Some of the new strategies could test the legal limits on coordination between campaigns and super PACs, though campaign finance experts say the groups so far seem to be complying with how the Federal Election Commission has interpreted the rules. But the greater on-the-ground presence of super PACs has not gone unnoticed. “There does seem to be a new level of brazenness about how much super PACs are appearing at campaign events and vice versa,” said Saurav Ghosh, director of federal campaign finance reform at the Campaign Legal Center. This gush of resources could be a huge advantage for candidates who can leverage it, although past primaries show that having the most money doesn’t automatically make a candidate a winner. OpenSecrets: Record contributions from dark money groups and shell companies flooded 2022 midterm elections By Anna Massoglia .....Federal political committees reported taking in $615 million from “dark money” groups and shell companies during the 2022 election – a new midterm record, a new OpenSecrets analysis of Federal Election Commission data found. But more dark money is pouring into federal elections with less disclosure, and 501(c)(4) nonprofits that don’t disclose their donors reported less than $25 million in spending to the FEC during the entire 2022 election cycle — the lowest total since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision rolled back restrictions on corporate political speech... Federal political committees reported over three times more political contributions from dark money groups and shell companies during the 2022 cycle than they did during the 2018 midterm cycle. Candidates and Campaigns New York Times: As Legal Fees Mount, Trump Steers Donations Into PAC That Has Covered Them By Shane Goldmacher and Maggie Haberman .....Facing multiple intensifying investigations, former President Donald J. Trump has quietly begun diverting more of the money he is raising away from his 2024 presidential campaign and into a political action committee that he has used to pay his personal legal fees... “I think in this particular situation, specifically because of the use of the leadership PAC to pay legal expenses and potentially other expenses that would be illegal personal use of campaign money, there’s an unusual incentive for the leadership PAC to take in more than it normally would,” said Adav Noti, senior vice president and legal director of Campaign Legal Center. The States Indiana Lawyer: IN Supreme Court schedules arguments in case on contributions to super PACs .....The Indiana Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this fall on the issue of whether state law prohibits or otherwise limits corporate contributions to political action committees or other entities that engage in independent campaign-related expenditures. The high court has scheduled 40 minutes for oral arguments beginning at 9 a.m. Sept. 7 in Indiana Right to Life Victory Fund and Sarkes Tarzian, Inc. v. Diego Morales, et al., 23S-CQ-00108. The case comes to the justices via a certified question from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals: “Does the Indiana Election Code — in particular, §§ 5-9-2-3 to -6 — prohibit or otherwise limit corporate contributions to PACs or other entities that engage in independent campaign-related expenditures?” Colorado Politics: Colorado Supreme Court considers if lawyers' speech can lead to liability By Michael Karlik .....After Colorado's second-highest court decided that lawyers and law firms can be held liable for making inflammatory statements when publicizing certain class action lawsuits, the state Supreme Court agreed to look at whether the new rule went too far. On Wednesday, the justices heard about the implications of attorneys being subject to defamation lawsuits themselves for their statements to the media. On the one hand, it could discourage lawyers from making false accusations in the first place. But on the other hand, it might cause them to think twice before speaking publicly about class actions — thereby decreasing the opportunity for injured plaintiffs to learn that someone is advocating for them. 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]