The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech August 23, 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]. Nonprofits Politico: D.C. Attorney General is probing Leonard Leo’s network By Heidi Przybyla .....Washington D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb is investigating judicial activist Leonard Leo and his network of nonprofit groups, according to a person with direct knowledge of the probe. The scope of the investigation is unclear. But it comes after POLITICO reported in March that one of Leo’s nonprofits — registered as a charity — paid his for-profit company tens of millions of dollars in the two years since he joined the company. A few weeks later, a progressive watchdog group filed a complaint with the D.C. attorney general and the IRS requesting a probe into what services were provided and whether Leo was in violation of laws against using charities for personal enrichment. The Courts Bloomberg Law: DeSantis ‘Anti-Woke’ Diversity Training Law Faces 11th Cir. Test By Chris Marr .....A Florida law restricting businesses’ ability to conduct diversity training on concepts such as implicit bias will face a critical test this week as a federal appeals court in Atlanta considers whether the measure violates the First Amendment’s free speech protections. The state’s 2022 law, HB 7, which Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) championed and initially named the “Stop WOKE Act,” has been partially blocked from taking effect since a federal district court issued a pair of injunctions last year. That lower court found aspects of the law were likely unconstitutional. Now a conservative-leaning panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit will hear oral arguments Thursday on whether to overturn the injunction related to workplace diversity training and let those restrictions take effect. The state’s attorneys argue the law doesn’t infringe on free speech, but only regulates conduct—specifically, banning businesses from requiring employees to attend meetings where the restricted concepts are taught. Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): Public School May Hang "Black Lives Matter" Posters Without Displaying Other Viewpoints By Eugene Volokh .....From yesterday's decision in Cajune v. Indep. School Dist. 194, by Judge Jerry Blackwell (D. Minn.): Colorado Politics: Colorado's billboard regulations comply with First Amendment, 10th Circuit rules By Michael Karlik .....The federal appeals court based in Denver ruled on Tuesday that Colorado's rules governing paid advertising along highways do not violate the First Amendment, as they do not discriminate based on the content of the billboards. Free Expression Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): 20 Years After You Can't Say That! Was Published, Feeling Vindicated by 303 Creative By David Bernstein .....Twenty years ago, the Cato Institute published my book, You Can't Say That!: The Growing Threat to Civil Liberties from Antidiscrimination Laws. The basic theme of the book was that as the scope of antidiscrimination laws has expanded, these laws increasingly infringe on bedrock constitutional liberties, especially freedom of expression. To the extent that there is a conflict, the rights protected by the Constitution should win out over claims that the infringements are justified by an asserted compelling government interest in "eradicating" discrimination. Cato tried very hard to place the book with a publisher, but constantly ran into ideological opposition. I couldn't help but think how ironic it was that book editors, of all people, thought a book was too favorable to freedom of expression. Indeed, one publisher even suggested that the book's relatively tame libertarian theme was "aggressively hostile … to standard social mores." (see excerpt below, from when the book had a different working title). Washington Examiner: Watchdog report catalogs ESG shareholder efforts to pressure corporations on liberal priorities By Jack Birle .....Conservative watchdog American Accountability Foundation cataloged shareholder resolutions aiming to shame companies from associating with conservative groups in a memo titled "Naming and Shaming," obtained exclusively by the Washington Examiner. The report outlines how groups work to pressure companies, from Coca-Cola to Wells Fargo, to "put trade associations, conservative groups, and lobbyists out of business." … “While most people know that ESG threatens the energy industry and America’s energy independence, comparatively little attention has been paid to the threat ESG poses to trade associations and the advocacy community. The ESG movement, which is an arm of the organized Left, has co-opted the shareholder resolution process to subject the political spending of public companies to the scrutiny of the woke mob," [AAF Director of Research Jerome] Trankle said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. The States Fox News: Librarian shuts down event after speaker refers to transgender athletes playing in women’s sports as male By Kendall Tietz .....The librarian of a California public library shut down an event after 10 minutes when one of its speakers referred to transgender athletes competing in women’s sports as male. "Current 10 year old girls cannot live out the same dream [I had] as long as men are allowed to compete in womens sports," Sophia Lorey, a former NCAA athlete and outreach coordinator for CA Family Council said at Sunday's event at the Mary L. Stephens Davis branch library in Davis, California. The librarian interrupted Lorey's speech to let her know that she was "misgendering" by "talking about men in women's sports," according to a video of the interaction. "…I was cut off and told by the librarian I would be removed, so then I continued talking saying ‘biological girls’ and ‘biological men’ to finish sharing my story," Lorey wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. "The librarian then told me to leave and if I won’t leave he will shut the entire meeting down." Arizona Republic: In defamation suit rebuttal, Kari Lake says Stephen Richer wants to 'silence' her By Sasha Hupka .....Kari Lake and her lawyers say Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer is seeking to "deter, retaliate against and prevent" free speech by suing her for defamation, according to a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Lake, a Republican who lost a bid for Arizona governor last year, alleges in the document that Richer, also a Republican, wishes to "punish or silence" her "core political speech about the integrity of the 2022 election ... a matter of tremendous public concern." "Stephen Richer is an elected official," Lake wrote in a statement released on X, the platform formerly called Twitter. "His unlawful attempt to abuse our legal system in order to insulate himself from criticism of his awful job performance establishes a dangerous precedent in our nation's history." Lake is represented in the case by attorney Tim La Sota, former head of the Arizona Attorney General's Election Integrity Unit Jen Wright and attorneys with the First Amendment Clinic at Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law. Nashville Tennesseean: ACLU sues state over free speech after Tennesseans removed from House committee hearing By Angele Latham .....The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee filed a lawsuit Wednesday following the removal of three activists at from a House committee hearing for holding paper signs supporting gun reform. The residents were removed by state troopers after being told to lower paper signs and not clap during the House Civil Justice Subcommittee hearing. "These rules are unreasonable," ACLU-TN Legal Director Stella Yarbrough said in a statement. "The Tennessee House’s ban on silently holding signs in House galleries directly undermines Tennesseans’ First Amendment right to express their opinions on issues that affect them and their families." 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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