The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech July 28, 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 Forbes: The New Jersey Legislature Adopts UPEPA By Jay Adkisson .....The New Jersey legislature has adopted the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act (UPEPA) on June 27, 2023, as Senate Bill 2802 which you can read here. Signing by the New Jersey Governor is expected shortly, and the Act goes into effect 30 days after that. As will all UPEPA enactments, there are some local quirks that shall be described below (known as "non-uniform amendments"), but generally the New Jersey UPEPA is relatively clean of such amendments. Adoption of the UPEPA gives New Jersey one of the strongest Anti-SLAPP acts in the world. New Jersey's adoption of the UPEPA also marks a milestone for free speech. According to David Keating of the Institute for Free Speech, when S.B. 2802 becomes law, "a majority of the nation's population will live in a jurisdiction with a relatively strong anti-SLAPP law – meaning a grade of “B” or better in our report card. Nearly 80% of the population would live in jurisdictions with anti-SLAPP laws." New from the Institute for Free Speech The Fifth Circuit Hollows Out the Right to Protest By Alec Greven .....The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a devastating ruling on the First Amendment right to assemble. The court allowed a lawsuit to proceed against Black Lives Matter leader DeRay Mckesson for allegedly “negligently” organizing a protest. The case arose when Mckesson organized a protest where an unknown assailant threw an object that injured a police officer. Mckesson did not assault anyone, and nobody argues that Mckesson incited or directed anyone to hurt the officer. Instead, the Fifth Circuit claims that, by organizing a protest where it is reasonably foreseeable that someone could be injured, a protest organizer can be liable. As the Fifth Circuit contends, “Mckesson should have known that leading the demonstrators onto a busy highway was likely to provoke a confrontation between police and the mass of demonstrators yet he ignored the foreseeable danger to officers, bystanders, and demonstrators.” It is hard to think of a ruling more damaging to the right of to assemble in a public protest or rally, short of banning such events entirely. If someone can be liable for organizing a protest where someone might suffer an injury or other damages, then organizing a protest on almost any contentious issue puts the organizer at risk of financial ruin. Here are some examples where a protest organizer could have faced personal liability under this reasoning: The Courts FIRE: Attorneys have free speech rights. I’m suing to prove it. By Zach Greenberg .....What are the rights of those who defend our rights? Do lawyers surrender their First Amendment freedoms when they pass the bar? When does zealous advocacy turn into harassment or discrimination? These are some of the questions I hope to see resolved in my lawsuit against the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, whose rules regarding professional conduct chill the protected speech of the very people tasked with defending free speech rights. For the first time, a federal appellate court will rule on the clash between the First Amendment and a new spate of restrictive ethical rules for attorneys advanced by the American Bar Association. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit will decide whether Pennsylvania’s revised Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4(g), designed to address harassment and discrimination in the legal profession, is a paternalistic speech code or a necessary restraint on attorney misconduct. WTVO: Pritzker signs law banning pro-life pregnancy centers from using ‘misinformation’; Rockford group joins suit By John Clark .....On Thursday, Pritzker signed SB1909, the Deceptive Practices of Limited Services Pregnancy Centers Act, which bars “so-called ‘crisis pregnancy centers’ from using misinformation, deceptive practices, or misrepresentation in order to interfere with access to abortion services or emergency contraception.” ... Opponents of the bill said that it violates the First Amendment, giving too much leeway to the attorney general’s office on which facilities can be penalized, as well as discriminating against certain organizations. The Rockford Family Initiative, which has organized demonstrations outside of the Rockford Family Planning Center abortion clinic at 611 Auburn Street, announced the same day that it has co-signing a lawsuit brought by the Thomas More Society “to protect pregnancy care centers and pro-life sidewalk counselors,” calling the new law “unconstitutional, unjust, harmful and dangerous.” ... “This is a blatant attempt to chill and silence pro-life speech under the guise of consumer protections,” said Thomas More Society Executive Vice President Peter Breen. “Pregnancy help ministries provide real options and assistance to women and families in need, but instead of the praise they deserve, pro-abortion-rights politicians are targeting these ministries with $50,000 fines and injunctions solely because of their pro-life viewpoint.” … The suit, NIFLA v Raoul, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Western Division. Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): Lawsuit Over Firing of Sports Show Host for Tweeting "ALL LIVES MATTER…EVERY SINGLE ONE" Can Go Forward By Eugene Volokh .....Though the First Amendment generally limits only actions by the government, many states have statutes that limit even private employers' ability to fire employees for their political activities (see this article for more details); some of them broadly cover ideological advocacy, and not just election-related activities: Congress Rep. Adam Schiff: Rep. Schiff Introduces Landmark Bill to Strengthen and Protect Our Democracy .....Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) reintroduced the Protecting Our Democracy Act, his landmark legislative package to strengthen the guardrails of our democracy against presidents or other officials who seek to abuse their power for personal gain. This Schiff-led comprehensive reform package is a key pillar of the Democrats’ Democracy agenda – an effort to protect, support, and restore faith in our democratic institutions – and is a key complement to the Freedom to Vote Act, which was reintroduced last week… “The Protecting Our Democracy Act would strengthen voting rights, keep foreign money out of our elections, and prevent Trump-style abuses of the pardon power. These reforms would restore important checks and balances vital to American democracy. The legislation would also strengthen protections afforded to federal whistleblowers who play a crucial role in Congress’s oversight function by speaking out and exposing wrongdoing or corruption, often at great personal and professional risk,” said Rep. Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee. Sen. Jon Tester: Shutting the Revolving Door of Lobbyist Influence in Washington is Aim of Tester’s Legislation .....As a part of his long-standing efforts to increase transparency and accountability in Congress, U.S. Senator Jon Tester will reintroduce legislation today to shut the revolving door in Washington by banning Members of Congress from ever becoming lobbyists. Techdirt: Influencers Starting To Realize How The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) Will Do Real Damage By Mike Masnick .....A friend pointed me to a TikTok influencer, pearlmania500 (aka Alex Pearlman), with about two million followers, who has posted a fun little anti-KOSA rant, pointing out just how dangerous KOSA is… A quick transcript of his righteous rant: 40 Senators have sponsored a bill to make sure you have to upload your driver’s license before you can use your First Amendment on the internet. That’s what they want. That’s what this bill is. This bill is designed to make sure that they have your home address before you can actually post about ANYTHING on the internet. The bill is Senate bill 1409. 40 Senators have sponsored it. Republicans and Democrats. This isn’t a left or right issue. This is a speech issue. And they call the bill “the Kids Online Safety Act.” Or KOSA for short. But in reality, this is some garbage to make sure they know where you live when you post. This bill, they claim is to protect kids from restricted material on the internet, but what it’s gonna do is restrict the internet for everybody and then make you prove you’re over 18 before you can look at anything... Nonprofits Washington Examiner: Supreme Court 'ethics' group likely failed to disclose lobbying, experts say By Gabe Kaminsky .....A Supreme Court advocacy group alleging ethics violations among justices including Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito likely failed to disclose its own apparent lobbying in violation of federal law, according to experts. Fix the Court, a charity that used to be a project of the New Venture Fund, an influential nonprofit group that the left-wing dark money behemoth and for-profit consultancy Arabella Advisors manages, is helping to lead a seemingly coordinated campaign demanding Supreme Court justices publicize more about their finances. Those mounting efforts haven't stopped Fix the Court from not reporting activities on financial disclosures that could constitute grassroots lobbying, multiple tax lawyers told the Washington Examiner. That Fix the Court may have not disclosed lobbying could further undercut its position as a watchdog committed to "transparency." In May, Fix the Court Executive Director Gabe Roth notably panicked after unwittingly leaking to the Washington Examiner his group's donors, which included liberal entities such as the New Venture Fund, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Online Speech Platforms Wall Street Journal: Facebook Bowed to White House Pressure, Removed Covid Posts By Ryan Tracy .....Facebook removed content related to Covid-19 in response to pressure from the Biden administration, including posts claiming the virus was man-made, according to internal company communications viewed by The Wall Street Journal. Washington Post: Changing Facebook’s algorithm won’t fix polarization, new study finds By Naomi Nix, Carolyn Y. Johnson and Cat Zakrzewski .....For years, regulators and activists have worried that social media companies’ algorithms were dividing the United States with politically toxic posts and conspiracies. The concern was so widespread that in 2020, Meta flung open troves of internal data for university academics to study how Facebook and Instagram would affect the upcoming presidential election. The first results of that research show that the company’s platforms play a critical role in funneling users to partisan information with which they are likely to agree. But the results cast doubt on assumptions that the strategies Meta could use to discourage virality and engagement on its social networks would substantially affect people’s political beliefs. 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]