August 11, 2023

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In the News

California Globe: Bakersfield College History Professor Sues CA Community Colleges over DEIA Teaching Mandates

By Evan Gahr

.....Bakersfield College history professor Daymon Johnson is suing his school and the California Community Colleges Chancellor for forcing him to espouse very woke diversity, equity and inclusion principles in his classroom, in violation of his First Amendment Rights.

The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s office recently issued new rules saying that “Faculty members shall employ teaching, learning, and professional practices that reflect DEIA [diversity equity inclusion and accessibility] and anti-racist principles” and that schools should “place significant emphasis on DEIA competencies in employee evaluation and tenure review.”

Alaska Watchman: REPORT: Free speech ‘under fire’ in Alaska

By Josiah Davidson

.....The Constitution’s First Amendment — a keystone of a democratic society — is under fire in Alaska. According to the 2022 Free Speech Index compiled by the Institute for Free Speech, Alaska’s free speech laws are some of the worst in the nation. Alaska ranks 42nd nationwide, which is no small feat considering that only four states scored 70% or higher.

The intention of the Free Speech Index, according to IFS’ chairman, is to show where states may improve to help foster a freer America and give citizens the ability to “support unpopular or disfavored causes without fear of government retribution.” The index examines free speech surrounding elections, candidates, policies, and government. It uses a 10-category ranking system including laws on political committees, grassroots advocacy and lobbying, and regulation of issue speech near an election, among others. All ten categories are listed in Table 1 along with Alaska’s ranking and score.

FEC

The Hill: FEC to consider new rules for AI in campaigns

By Rebecca Klar

.....The Federal Election Commission (FEC) will hear comments from experts and the public about a potential rule clarification that would address the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in campaigns.

The six-member commission voted unanimously to consider the amended petition, brought by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, during a Thursday meeting...

Thursday’s vote does not mean the commission will be changing the rule to address AI in campaigns, but rather that it will allow the process to go forward to hear public comment…

Despite voting with the rest of the commission to advance the proposal, Republican Commissioner Allen Dickerson still expressed concerns about the FEC’s authority to address the use of AI in campaigns.

Dickerson said there is “nothing special” about the “buzzwords” of generative AI and deepfakes in the petition concerning the FEC’s authority to regulate fraud in campaigns.

Congress

Washington Examiner: Congress can put an end to the Biden administration's attacks on free speech

By Carl Szabo

.....Earlier this year, the first step to rein in this presidential overreach passed the House of Representatives, called the Protecting Free Speech from Government Interference Act . Unfortunately, the bill is now languishing in the Senate, stuck in partisan quicksand.

The legislation lays out ground rules for government employees, simply affirming that they can’t use their positions as government officials for politically motivated purposes to censor speech online. In other words, it protects Americans’ First Amendment rights.

The Orwellian overreach of the Biden administration must be checked. If not, we're looking at a dystopian future where the government can demand the names of citizens who fail to parrot their narrative. Remember Matt Taibi from the "Twitter files"? The IRS conveniently showed up at his door right before he testified to Congress. This is what weaponizing power looks like.

Free Expression

Daily Wire: Arizona’s Public Universities Ditch DEI Hiring Statements In ‘Huge’ Free Speech Win

By Mairead Elordi

.....Arizona’s public universities will no longer request “diversity statements” on their job applications in what free speech advocates called a “huge” win…

The Goldwater Institute argued that requiring diversity statements was unconstitutional under both the First Amendment and Arizona’s state Constitution.

Candidates and Campaigns

New York Times: DeSantis, With a Subtle Maneuver, Hides His Small-Dollar Donations

By Rebecca Davis O’Brien and Shane Goldmacher

.....When WinRed, the company that processes nearly all online Republican campaign contributions, recently released its enormous trove of donor data for the first half of the year, donations were conspicuously absent for one presidential candidate: Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.

It was no technical glitch. The DeSantis campaign worked with WinRed in a way that prevented the disclosure of donor information, ensuring that the campaign’s small donors would remain anonymous, according to a person familiar with the campaign.

The arrangement appears to be the first of its kind for a presidential campaign since WinRed’s founding four years ago and could presage a return to an era in which far less information on small donors is made public, at least for Republicans...

“Using the payment processor model allows them to not have to itemize those donors,” said Adav Noti, senior vice president and legal director at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit campaign ethics group. “That’s a business question, not a legal question.”

The vendor arrangement raises some legal questions, Mr. Noti said: First, whether WinRed’s merchant arm is, itself, a de facto political group, which would have to register as a political action committee.

“F.E.C. rules are pretty clear that payment processors can’t be partisan,” Mr. Noti said.

AP News: Targeting DeSantis, Trump team warns state parties that super PACs can’t act as an arm of a campaign

By Michelle L. Price

.....Donald Trump’s campaign is seeking to blunt the efforts of a super PAC supporting rival Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign by sending a letter to all state Republican parties on Thursday arguing that they cannot work with a super PAC as if it is representing a candidate.

David Warrington, an attorney for Trump’s 2024 campaign, contends in the letter that a super PAC, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money, should not be allowed to undertake traditional campaign activities that directly benefit a candidate or “act as de facto campaign arms.”

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