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
.....In this episode of Early Returns, Jan speaks with Bradley Smith, professor at Capital Law School, former Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) Chair, nationally recognized expert on campaign finance and the First Amendment, and the Founder and Chairman of the Institute for Free Speech (“IFS”). IFS defends rights guaranteed by the first amendment of the United States Constitution. Brad and IFS have been instrumental in modifying the debate about regulating money and politics by providing counter arguments questioning the efficacy of so-called “reforms.”
They talk about Brad’s experience at the FEC, his run-in with Senator John McCain, his delayed FEC confirmation process, his academic tenure, and his work related to IFS which actively challenges government regulatory overreach. The conversation includes analysis of recent free speech cases as well as suggestions on pending cases we should keep an eye on. And, of course, there are some interesting reading suggestions.
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By Mark J. Fronke
.....As a retired California Community Colleges (CCC) accounting professor, I applaud the courage and integrity of Prof. Daymon Johnson to stand against the nonsensical regulations imposed on him promoting the politicized diversity agenda (“‘Antiracists’ vs. Academic Freedom,” Review & Outlook, July 22).
During my final years, it was suggested that I lower my grading standards from a traditional scale (90% = A, 80% = B) to “promote equity” and accommodate students who weren’t prepared for the rigors of the course. My standard response was to suggest that the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and California State Board of Accountancy aren’t likely to lower the standards required for licensure to “promote equity.”
Ed. note: Read more about our case, Johnson v. Watkin, here.
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New from the Institute for Free Speech
.....Oregon’s strong anti-SLAPP law earned an “A-” grade in our 2022 Anti-SLAPP Report Card. Its principal previous defect was its lack of a provision explicitly guaranteeing a right to an immediate (interlocutory) appeal. Court decisions interpreted the law as containing such a provision, but, on May 8, 2023, Governor Tina Kotek signed a bill into law that more clearly codifies this protection.
In addition to this clarification of the right to an immediate appeal, the new law also:
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Congress
By Eric Schmitt
.....The First Amendment is the bedrock of our Constitution, but recent actions by Biden administration officials have put Americans’ right to freedom of speech at grave risk. Whether stifling speech about the Hunter Biden laptop story or limiting posts about the Covid lab-leak theory, the extent to which this administration (and before it the Biden campaign) has used government power to censor speech is astounding. I uncovered this censorship, and now I am leading the charge for accountability by introducing the Censorship Accountability Act.
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The Courts
By Tim Hains
.....Donald Trump's attorney John Lauro debates CNN's Kaitlin Collins about whether the former president's effort to search for voter fraud in the 2020 election counts as protected political speech.
"Political speech, under the First Amendment, has an almost absolute protection. Nobody gets to judge, whether it's true or not, except the American people. And we do that in an election. We do that in an election. We do that in the case of a President, by impeachment. But we don't indict people for speech," he said.
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By Richard L. Hasen
.....The federal indictment just handed down by Special Counsel Jack Smith is not only the most important indictment by far of former President Donald J. Trump. It is perhaps the most important indictment ever handed down to safeguard American democracy and the rule of law in any U.S. court against anyone…
He also will likely assert First Amendment defenses. As the indictment itself notes near the beginning, “the Defendant has a right, like every American, to speak publicly about the election and even to claim, falsely, that there had been outcome-determinative fraud during the election that he had won.” But Trump did not just state the false claims; he allegedly used the false claims to engage in a conspiracy to steal the election. There is no First Amendment right to use speech to subvert an election, any more than there is a First Amendment right to use speech to bribe, threaten, or intimidate.
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By Ryan Mills
.....Davis and others are worried that a new Vermont law will limit the services that pro-life pregnancy centers like Branches can provide and shut down their ability to communicate with clients on critical topics, including abortion-pill-reversal options. Davis said she believes the Democratic lawmakers behind Senate Bill 37, which was signed in May by the state’s socially liberal Republican governor Phil Scott, want to shutter pro-life centers like hers “because of the fact that we don’t support the state’s extreme pro-abortion agenda.”
On Tuesday, the conservative legal firm Alliance Defending Freedom filed a federal lawsuit against Vermont state officials claiming that the new law specifically targets pro-life pregnancy centers, unconstitutionally restricts their speech, and limits who can provide services. ADF is representing the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, or NIFLA, a religious nonprofit, as well as two faith-based pregnancy centers in Vermont, Branches and Aspire Now.
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By Bryan Pietsch
.....X, the company formerly known as Twitter, is suing a research group that investigated hate speech on the social media platform, alleging that researchers violated its terms of service in a “scare campaign to drive away advertisers.”
In a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, X alleged that the American and British operations of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) “engaged in a series of unlawful acts designed to improperly gain access to protected X Corp. data.” …
In a statement Tuesday, CCDH founder and chief executive Imran Ahmed said the legal threat shows that X owner Elon Musk “will stop at nothing to silence anyone who criticizes him for his own decisions and actions.”
The CCDH’s “research shows that hate and disinformation is spreading like wildfire on the platform under Musk’s ownership” and that the billionaire “is trying to ‘shoot the messenger’ who highlights the toxic content on his platform rather than deal with the toxic environment he’s created,” Ahmed said. “The CCDH’s independent research won’t stop — Musk will not bully us into silence.”
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The States
By Carl Campanile
.....A Manhattan Democratic Party official has been identified as a “straw donor” who dealt with at least one of the defendants in the alleged criminal campaign-finance scheme that has rocked Mayor Eric Adams’ 2021 campaign.
William Smith, a Democratic district leader from East Harlem, was revealed as “straw donor 16” who had conversations with defendant Shamsuddin Riza in the case, according to court papers filed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office.
Six defendants in the case were charged with allegedly using the names of relatives and friends as straw donors to Adams’ mayoral campaign to cash in on the city’s generous 8-to-1 public-matching-fund system for political donations, as well as to try to curry favor with the mayor-to-be…
“On or about August 5, 2021, in a telephone conversation with Straw Donor-16, a Manhattan Democratic Party District Leader, Shamsuddin Riza stated in substance he intended to make a contribution to the Campaign in the name of Straw Donor-16: `I’m putting up the money for you, all you have to do is fill out the contribution form and whatnot, right,’ ” the initial indictment filed early last month said.
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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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