September 15, 2023

In the News

Hartford Courant: Connecticut Supreme Court hears GOP Senators’ free speech challenge to campaign law

By Edmund H. Mahony

.....Two leading Republicans urged the state Supreme Court on Wednesday to overturn a provision in campaign finance law that limits who candidates for office can criticize, calling it a nonsensical and unconstitutional infringement on political speech.

“It is removing the ability of a candidate for public office to engage in substantive discussions of public import,” Charles Miller, senior counsel with the public interest law group Institute for Free Speech in Washington, told the court. “It is just silliness. it doesn’t serve any purpose other than curtailing speech.”

Miller and Hartford First Amendment lawyer Mario Cerame represent state Sen. Rob Sampson and former state Sen. Joe Markley, who have tried for nearly a decade to overturn a provision of the state’s public campaign finance law that restricts how candidates for one office can spend money from their public campaign grants on advertisements critical of a candidate for a different office.

The case arose from the 2014 election, when Markley and Sampson were fined by the State Elections Enforcement Commission for using a portion of their public campaign grants on postcards targeting then-Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

The Messenger: Newspaper Raid Highlights Crucial Importance of Free Speech

By Tom Garrett

.....A small Kansas town recently became an unlikely — but pivotal — free speech battleground. Last month, Americans learned the troubling details of what happened in Marion, Kan. On the morning of August 11, the town’s entire five-officer local police force, along with two sheriff’s deputies, raided the offices of the weekly newspaper, the Marion County Record, and the home of publisher and co-owner Eric Meyer. The pretense for the raid was a very broad, now-withdrawn warrant. The officers seized computers, phones, and servers and searched individual reporters’ personal devices, all of which rendered normal business operations extremely difficult.

And that might have been the entire point.

Supreme Court

SCOTUSblog: Biden asks justices to block limits on collaboration with social media companies

By Amy Howe

.....The Biden administration on Thursday afternoon asked the Supreme Court to temporarily block a lower court’s order that would limit its ability to communicate with social media companies over content moderation policies. U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the justices that if the “unprecedented” order is allowed to stand, it would put a Louisiana district judge in charge of overseeing the executive branch’s communications with social media companies.

Congress

Washington Examiner: House Republicans push to ban DHS from establishing another 'Disinformation Governance Board'

By Gabe Kaminsky

.....House Republicans will unveil legislation Thursday to ban the Department of Homeland Security from forming another Disinformation Governance Board after the panel was shuttered last year amid censorship concerns from conservatives.

FEC

Daily Caller: Exclusive: FEC Exonerates Ted Cruz After Left-Wing Group Accused Him Of Breaking Ethics Laws

By James Lynch

.....The Federal Election Commission (FEC) cleared Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz of wrongdoing in August after a left-wing activist organization accused him of breaking campaign ethics laws, Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings show.

FEC officials determined Cruz “did not personally benefit” from using campaign funds on Facebook ads to promote his book “One Vote Away,” the commission said in an Aug. 14 Statement of Reasons explaining why the committee will not pursue any further action against Cruz.

Free Expression

The Hill: I’m a conservative. Is there still a place for me in the field of political science?

By Robert Maranto

.....This week, thousands of social scientists are meeting in Los Angeles for the 119th annual American Political Science Association meeting. I’ve attended nearly every APSA since 1984, a third of its existence and most of my life. Seeing old friends, new books and countless panels exploring politics is the highlight of my year, even though I am one of the roughly 10 percent of political scientists — not all on the down-low — who usually vote Republican.

But will academia remain open to people like me and to the unique perspectives we bring? Until recently, I assured libertarians and conservatives that unlike much of academia, political science had a tent big enough for them. Today, as academia becomes as leftist as Rush Limbaugh always said we were, I am not so sure.

New York Times: A Professor’s Remarks on Sexual Consent Stir Controversy. Now He’s Banned From Campus.

By Vimal Patel

.....Can public universities, which are bound by the First Amendment, restrict professors from campus because of comments they made on a podcast? Should they do so when threats are involved? And what is the marker of an actual threat, anyway?

The States

The Detroit News: Marine City commissioner plans to sue the city after being arrested at commission meeting

By Anne Snabes

.....A Marine City official arrested after attempting to speak during the public comment portion of a meeting last week and refusing to leave the podium said he plans to pursue legal action against the city.

City Commissioner Mike Hilferink said he's been in contact with a civil rights attorney through a third party. He said the lawsuit would primarily focus on how the city allegedly violated his First Amendment rights by prohibiting him from speaking during public comment.