The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech October 31, 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 RealClearPolitics: Sen. Josh Hawley To Introduce Bill Reversing Citizens United By Philip Wegmann .....Hawley plans to introduce legislation that would gut Citizens United v. FEC, RCP is first to report. “My goal is to get corporate money out of our politics,” he said. His aim is to stop “corporate influence” from “controlling our elections.” This kind of rhetoric is not unusual. But it usually comes from Democrats... Hawley blames Citizens United for giving corporations free rein to “sink their teeth” into the American political process. The Hawley legislation would ban publicly traded corporations from making independent expenditures and giving to Super PACs while prohibiting them from cutting political ads or engaging in “other electioneering communications.” Ironically, however, it would not stop the conservative group that upended modern election law. Citizens United is itself a non-profit and, therefore, wouldn’t be affected. The bill likely has little chance of making it to the president’s desk... More recent history can be found in the conservative opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal. Reflecting the view of that editorial board, Bradley Smith, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, celebrated the anniversary of Citizens United in 2020, writing that “the ruling has empowered small-dollar donors and political outsiders, not corporations.” The donor who writes a check from the kitchen table, the former FEC chair argued, is now king in American politics, not the Super PAC. Supreme Court SCOTUSblog: Justices consider liability for officials who block critics on social media By Amy Howe .....On Tuesday the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a pair of cases involving liability for public officials who block critics on their personal social-media accounts. The two cases, O’Connor-Ratcliff v. Garnier and Lindke v. Freed, are the first in a series of disputes this term arising out of the relationship between government and social media. The Courts New York Times: Federal Judge Reinstates Gag Order on Trump in Election Case By Alan Feuer .....A federal judge reinstated a gag order on former President Donald J. Trump on Sunday that had been temporarily placed on hold nine days earlier, reimposing restrictions on what Mr. Trump can say about witnesses and prosecutors in the case in which he stands accused of seeking to overturn the 2020 election. In making her decision, the judge, Tanya S. Chutkan, also denied a request by Mr. Trump’s lawyers to freeze the gag order for what could have been a considerably longer period, saying it can remain in effect as a federal appeals court in Washington reviews it. “The First Amendment rights of participants in criminal proceedings must yield, when necessary, to the orderly administration of justice,” Judge Chutkan wrote. Cincinnati Enquirer: Judge won't throw out Forest Hills lawsuit challenging ban of race, identity discussions By Madeline Mitchell .....A lawsuit that seeks to stop the Forest Hills School District from enforcing a resolution banning discussion of issues like race and identity can proceed despite the district's attempt to dismiss it, a judge ruled Thursday. The next court date has yet to be set. The order from U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio Judge Michael Barrett is a win for community members who say the resolution is infringing upon their First Amendment rights. It is not supposed to be enforced during litigation… The school board passed what they called the "culture of kindness" resolution in June 2022. Members of the community sued the district over the resolution days later, saying it targets students of color and LGBTQ+ students, and makes them feel unwelcome and alienated. Congress Cleveland.com: Jim Jordan probes DC investigation of GOP legal activist Leonard Leo By Sabrina Eaton .....House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan on Monday announced that he’s investigating an effort by the District of Columbia Office of the Attorney General to investigate conservative legal activist Leonard Leo and nonprofit groups he’s affiliated with. The Champaign County Republican on Monday joined with House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, in a letter to D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb. The letter calls Schwalb’s Leo probe politically motivated and says the committees are “concerned about potential infringement on free association and donor privacy.” ... “The Committees will not tolerate any efforts to undermine donor privacy and chill association of American citizens,” the letter says. The Intercept: The Senate Condemns Student Groups as Backlash to Pro-Palestinian Speech Grows By Murtaza Hussain .....On Friday, the U.S. Senate passed a unanimous resolution condemning what it called “anti-Israel, pro-Hamas student groups” across the country following a day of walkouts. Hundreds of students, led by Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, walked out of classes at Columbia University, Princeton University, New York University, and dozens of other colleges in what they described as a demand for a ceasefire in Gaza and end to U.S. military support to Israel. The Senate resolution condemned student groups for ostensibly supporting Hamas as part of a broader government and corporate pushback on protests over the war. As the conflict intensifies, disputes are spilling over from campuses and government into many workplaces as well. Recent weeks have seen pressure by government officials against student activist groups, the creation of public blacklists in multiple industries, and a wave of politically motivated firings over people’s publicly stated views on the conflict. “We are seeing people being fired from their jobs, being investigated by HR over their social media posts or conversations with colleagues, and having job offers rescinded. There is a clear trend that people’s jobs are being targeted right now,” said Dima Khalidi, the founder and director of Palestine Legal, an advocacy organization that seeks to preserve the civil rights of supporters of Palestinian rights in the United States. Biden Administration Washington Post: Biden signs AI executive order, the most expansive regulatory attempt yet By Cristiano Lima and Cat Zakrzewski .....President Biden signed a sweeping artificial intelligence executive order Monday, wielding the force of agencies across the federal government and invoking broad emergency powers to harness the potential and tackle the risks of what he called the “most consequential technology of our time.” Free Expression New York Times: The Discourse Is Toxic. Universities Can Help. By Amaney Jamal and Keren Yarhi-Milo .....We are both deans of public policy schools. One of us comes from a Palestinian family displaced by war. The other served in Israeli military intelligence before a long career in academia... Universities should state hard truths and clarify critical issues. As leaders of public policy schools, we train the leaders of tomorrow to think creatively and boldly. It starts with countering speech that is harmful; modeling civic dialogue, mutual respect and empathy; and showing an ability to listen to one another. Universities should not retreat into their ivory towers because the discourse has gotten toxic; on the contrary, the discourse will get more toxic if universities pull back... While campus groups and all Americans enjoy freedom of speech, educators at universities must respond to speech that is harmful, hateful, untrue or lacking nuance and historical context. Free speech works only when there is vigorous counterspeech. As deans, we also know that in this volatile political environment, we must ensure that our campuses have places where each side can air their opinions and even come together and hold difficult conversations without fear of retaliation.... Campuses must protect free speech and equally advocate mutually respectful dialogue. That obligation is both especially important and especially demanding in our current political and societal landscape. Online Speech Platforms New York Times: A.I. Muddies Israel-Hamas War in Unexpected Way By Tiffany Hsu and Stuart A. Thompson .....“Even by the fog of war standards that we are used to, this conflict is particularly messy,” said Hany Farid, a computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and an expert in digital forensics, A.I. and misinformation. “The specter of deepfakes is much, much more significant now — it doesn’t take tens of thousands, it just takes a few, and then you poison the well and everything becomes suspect.” The States Ballotpedia News: Seven states have banned foreign spending in ballot measure elections. Maine voters will decide the issue with Question 2 on Nov. 7. By Victoria Antram .....In Maine, voters will decide on Question 2 on Nov. 7. Question 2, a citizen-initiated statute, would prohibit foreign governments, or entities with at least 5% foreign government ownership or control, from spending money to influence ballot measures or candidate elections. Federal law currently prohibits contributions, donations, expenditures (including independent expenditures), and disbursements by foreign nationals to any federal, state, or local candidate election but not ballot measure elections. Question 2 would prohibit foreign government expenditures under state law and include ballot measure elections. Therefore, Question 2 would prohibit foreign spending on ballot measure elections that federal law does not prohibit. Currently, seven states—California, Colorado, Maryland, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Washington—prohibit foreign nationals from contributing to ballot measure campaigns, and two cities—Seattle, Washington, and San Jose, California—banned election spending by foreign-influenced entities. 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