December 15, 2023

Ed. note: The Daily Media Update will return Tuesday, January 2. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

In the News

Townhall: California Library Stops Women From Advocating to Protect Their Sports

By Mathew W. Hoffman

.....Sophia Lorey is a former college soccer player who has faced censorship for defending women’s sports. A local chapter of Moms for Liberty in Yolo County, California invited her to speak at an event held at a county library on August 20. But just a few minutes into her speech, a library official demanded she leave. Her offense? Referring to men as men. As Sophia began to speak about “male athletes,” she was shouted down by protestors in the room as the library’s regional manager claimed that her speech violated library policy for “misgendering.” A viral video captured the tense moments in the library before Sophia was ultimately forced to end her presentation. Not long after, the library shut the whole event down…

ADF asked the library to change its policies and allow Moms for Liberty to hold its event as originally planned, but unfortunately, the library stubbornly refused, leading to a lawsuit filed by ADF and the Institute for Free Speech earlier this month.

Supreme Court

New York Times: Social Media Is a Mess. Government Meddling Would Only Make It Worse.

By Jeff Kosseff

.....This term, the Supreme Court will reconsider America’s laissez-faire approach to regulating the internet, and in doing so it will address vital and new First Amendment questions. Can states stop social media sites from blocking certain content? Can the federal government pressure platforms to remove content it disagrees with?

In each of these cases, the Supreme Court must decide whether the government can interfere with private companies’ editorial judgments, and I hope the justices will articulate sufficiently clear principles that can endure and continue to protect online speech. Despite the unprecedented new societal challenges created by the internet, the court should not back away from its firm stance against most government intervention.

The Courts

Bangor Daily News: 4th lawsuit targets Maine’s referendum against foreign electioneering

By Michael Shepherd

.....A group including three current and former lawmakers filed the fourth lawsuit challenging a referendum passed last month by Maine voters that looks to ban foreign electioneering here.

The Wednesday filing in U.S. District Court looks to strike down Question 2, alleging that it violates the First Amendment. Its arguments are similar to those made in lawsuits earlier this week from the state’s two biggest utilities and groups representing media outlets charged with enforcing aspects of the new law.

Question 2 would ban foreign governments and companies at least 5 percent owned by them from influencing candidate or referendum elections in Maine and urge Congress to pass an anti-corruption amendment to the Constitution.

CBS News: Florida teachers challenge personal pronoun law

.....Three teachers on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit alleging a new state law restricting titles and pronouns at schools unconstitutionally discriminates against transgender and nonbinary educators...

[The lawsuit] alleges the law violates the First Amendment because it prohibits transgender and nonbinary school employees from using the titles and pronouns "that express who they are," treating them differently from colleagues.

FEC

Federal Election Commission: FEC elects officers for 2024, discusses advisory opinion, approves final rules on candidate salaries and technological modernization and votes to send legislative recommendations to Congress

.....At its open meeting today, the Federal Election Commission discussed an advisory opinion, and approved final rules on candidate salaries and technological modernization, and a package of 16 legislative recommendations. The Commission elected Sean J. Cooksey to serve as Chairman and Ellen L. Weintraub to serve as Vice Chair for 2024.

Washington Examiner: Mutiny on FEC over longtime partisan commissioner

By Paul Bedard

.....Weintraub, on the FEC since 2002, 15 years past the end of her six-year term, was elected to be the vice chairwoman next year in a 4-1-1 vote. Republican Trey Trainor voted no, and Republican Allen Dickerson abstained.

Both argued it was long past time for Weintraub to be replaced and noted that she was part of the commission’s troubled partisan past.

Dickerson said the practice should be that commissioners serve as chair and vice chair just once, no matter how long it extends past the six-year terms. For Weintraub, it will be her third time as vice chairwoman and will likely lead to her fourth time as chairwoman when yearly leadership votes come around again next December.

Dickerson favored the elevation of Democrat Shana Broussard instead. “It’s her turn,” he said. Of those pushing for Weintraub, he said, “They are making a mistake.”

Trainor ripped Biden for not nominating new commissioners to replace those who have served their six years, including Trainor.

OpenSecrets: FEC votes to extend campaign salaries to recent caregivers, temporarily unemployed candidates

By Jimmy Cloutier

.....The Federal Election Commission on Thursday voted 5-1 to approve new rules allowing more candidates to pay themselves a salary while running for office, including recent caregivers and workers suffering from an unexpected job loss.  

Under existing regulations, only candidates who earned an income during the 12 months immediately before running for office qualified to receive compensation from campaign funds, putting stay-at-home parents, recent college graduates and workers with gaps in employment at a disadvantage…

The new rules will permit non-incumbent candidates to receive a day rate equal to 50% of the minimum annual salary of a U.S. House Representative — which currently sits at $174,000 — or the candidate’s average annual income over the previous five years, whichever is lowest. Any outside income earned while campaigning will count against the maximum compensation that can be drawn from campaign coffers. 

The commission also agreed to extend the period when candidates can receive compensation, starting with the official launch of their campaign and ending 20 days after an election, regardless of the outcome. 

Free Expression

Reason: Brooklyn College Forced a Student To Take Down Anti-Israel Signs While Leaving Other Posters Untouched

By Emma Camp

.....Last month, a Brooklyn College student was forced to take down pro-Palestinian signs on the door of her assigned art studio following an anonymous complaint to campus police. While the school claimed the posters violated school policy, numerous postings on other doors were allowed to stay up, raising First Amendment concerns.

Candidates and Campaigns

Politico: A Democratic campaign deploys the first synthetic AI caller

By Rebecca Kern, Mohar Chatterjee, and Madison Fernandez

.....Voters in south-central Pennsylvania began getting calls over the weekend from a completely artificial person campaigning on behalf of a Democratic congressional candidate — in what its creators believe is the first interactive AI-powered political phone campaign…

Although the use of AI has raised concerns among security experts and ethicists, it is subject to relatively few rules, with Congress facing an uphill battle to pass any laws regulating AI before the 2024 elections. The Federal Election Commission has collected public comments on a petition to regulate deceptive AI content in campaign ads but hasn’t announced any actions yet.

The States

Washington Post: Court revives suit by teacher fired for not using trans student’s pronouns

By Justin Jouvenal

.....In a ruling hailed as a major victory by conservatives, Virginia’s Supreme Court on Thursday revived a lawsuit by a teacher who claims his religious liberties and free-speech rights were violated when school officials fired him for refusing to use the pronouns of a transgender student.

In a split 143-page decision, the justices overturned a lower court decision dismissing Peter Vlaming’s case, which has drawn national attention because it pitted the hotly contested issues of transgender rights and religious freedom against each other. In its 4-3 decision, the Supreme Court remanded the case to a lower court for trial.

AZCentral: Settlement reached in Scottsdale school district dossier lawsuit

By Madeleine Parrish

.....The parents who sued the Scottsdale Unified School District, a former board member and that board member's father over a digital dossier discovered in 2021 will receive $200,000, according to a settlement agreement approved by the district's governing board Tuesday.

In 2021, it came to light that Mark Greenburg, the father of then-school board President Jann-Michael Greenburg, kept a Google Drive of social media posts and information on some parents who were critical of the district.

Seattle Times: WA GOP fights secretary of state’s effort to track election misinformation

By Jim Brunner

.....An effort by Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs to track and refute viral online misinformation about elections has prompted loud objections from the state Republican Party.

The state GOP recently filed a formal complaint with the state Executive Ethics Board, accusing Hobbs of violating the constitution and his oath of office by hiring a tech firm to scour social media for harmful “narratives and threats” about Washington elections officials and voting.

Hobbs’ office signed a no-bid contract for nearly $273,000 in late May with the British artificial intelligence company Logically, as part of a new effort aimed at responding in real time to election misinformation and disinformation.

The GOP’s Nov. 30 complaint alleged the new effort amounts to “political surveillance” that allows Hobbs, a Democrat, “to suppress and abridge free speech on a massive scale.” In a news release, Jim Walsh, the state Republican Party chair, accused Hobbs of “snooping” on outspoken Republicans and unethically using taxpayer money for “harassment and attempted intimidation.”