This is the Daily Media Update published by the Institute for Free Speech. For press inquiries, please contact [email protected].
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In the News
.....Bakersfield College in California is the subject of a new lawsuit alleging a chilling attack on free speech by one of its faculty. In this case, the college put History Professor Daymon Johnson under a long investigation after he commented on the extremist comments of another professor. Professor Andrew Bond denounced the United States as a “sh*t nation” and then invited conservatives to quote him. Johnson did and Bond filed a complaint alleging harassment and bullying.
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Supreme Court
By Amy Howe
.....The Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out the conviction of Billy Raymond Counterman, a Colorado man who was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for stalking based on his Facebook messages. By a vote of 7-2, the justices ruled that the state courts had applied the wrong test to determine whether Counterman’s statements were “true threats,” which are not protected by the First Amendment. Instead of focusing on whether a reasonable person would regard the man’s statements as a threat of violence, the Supreme Court ruled, courts should look at whether prosecutors had shown that Counterman had made the threats recklessly – that is, whether he was aware that the recipient, local Colorado musician Coles Whalen, could regard his speech as a threat, but made them anyway.
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By Amanda Shanor
.....On Friday the Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Hansen. The question before the justices was whether a federal law that criminalizes “encouraging or inducing” an immigrant to come or remain in the United States unlawfully violates the First Amendment’s guarantee of the freedom of speech. The court narrowly interpreted the law to avoid the First Amendment concerns that would be raised if “encourage or induce” were given their ordinary, conversational meanings — and include meanings such as to “influence,” “encourage,” or “inspire with hope” — as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit had held they did.
The opinion also shed light on the newer justices’ views on the freedom of speech and the direction the newly reconfigured court may be pushing First Amendment law.
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Online Speech Platforms
By Ryan King
.....A conservative group is accusing the White House and powerful Democrats and liberals of scheming to “make AI woke.”
Pointing to public plans for training AI systems to be more inclusive and less prone to “harmful bias” or “algorithmic discrimination,” the American Accountability Foundation is warning in a new memo that “by taking over AI,” political ideologues “can take over the world.”
“The Biden administration’s efforts [to] make AI woke is absolutely terrifying. The prospect of AI being rigged by the Left is truly Orwellian,” American Accountability Foundation President Tom Jones told The Post...
The AAF memo cites four recent Democratic public strategies as evidence of a broader quest to wokeify the nascent technology.
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Candidates and Campaigns
By Andy Kessler
.....But the real home run is digital advertising. There is almost no transparency, few measures to audit and almost no way for a campaign to know how the ad money was spent. Social-media spending is fast and loose. No one knows how effective it is, let alone how much of the spending goes toward fees vs. actual ads. Ten percent to 80% fees are possible.
I dug up the Federal Election Commission filings for Herschel Walker’s 2022 Senate campaign, and they are revealing...
The Walker campaign had more than 1,000 itemized campaign expenses, including $13 to Velvet Elvis, $6 to Burger King and—what’s this?—$199,467 to “The Mar-a-Lago Club.” Here’s the real whopper: Two-thirds of the campaign’s $69 million spending was for digital ad services—$25.5 million to Scott Howell entities; $13.2 million combined to Campaign Solutions and Connell Donatelli, which are the same firm; and $8.4 million to Push Digital LLC. Another $1.6 million went to WinRed, the site in Mr. Trump’s fundraising email. Was the money for digital ad buying? How much was spent on fees? Was it for digital fundraising? Consulting? Who knows. It isn’t disclosed. And, may I remind you, Mr. Walker lost.
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By David I. Schoen
.....Benjamin Chavis Jr.’s op-ed “Democrats Fail to Live Up to Their Label” (June 20) identifies a significant issue in our electoral system: the difficulties that small political parties have in gaining access to the ballot. For decades, the two major parties that control all the state legislatures have worked vigorously and creatively to erect barriers. They pass self-serving laws that make signature requirements tough to meet and charge exorbitant fees for access to voter-registration lists. Small parties often can’t afford to pay and therefore are limited in reaching the audience of voters who might be engaged by their message.
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The States
By Dave Fidlin
.....A New Hampshire legislative panel will examine various election-related bills and laws in the summer months and could bring recommendations forward in the season's waning days.
Several House Election Law Committee members met on Tuesday to discuss recent bills. Since no quorum of the 18-member committee was present, formal votes were not taken.
Erin Hennessey, deputy secretary of state, spoke with the committee about a task on her list this summer – proposing statutory amendments to Chapter 664, which pertains to political expenditures and contributions.
The anticipated revisions are in response to several pieces of legislation, including House Bill 195, which addresses political advocacy organizations. HB195 passed both chambers of the Legislature this spring.
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By David Propper
.....A Rhode Island Democratic state senator was arrested after allegedly keying a car that had a “Biden Sucks” bumper sticker affixed to it, according to authorities.
State Sen. Joshua Miller, 69, was charged with vandalism/malicious injury to property for allegedly scratching a Nissan Pathfinder next to his pick-up truck at a shopping center parking lot Thursday night, police said.
The Nissan’s owner and passenger heard a loud scratching noise against their car, and then saw the mark on their vehicle. When the passenger asked Miller if he was responsible, the Democratic lawmaker flatly denied it, Cranston police said.
The victim then saw the car next to his had a “Re-elect Senator Josh Miller” bumper sticker in the back of the car, prompting him to look up the name.
“He then looked up Senator Josh Miller on the internet on his cell phone, which returned a photo of him,” the police said in a new release. “He immediately recognized the subject in the photo as the person he suspected of keying his vehicle.”
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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."
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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.
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