January 5, 2024

In the News

Tahlequah Daily Press: Freedom of speech protected in state from frivolous suits

By Lee Guthrie

.....Oklahoma has earned an “A” grade in a 2023 Anti-SLAPP report card produced by the Institute for Free Speech on protections against speech-suppressing lawsuits, making it one of the states with the strongest protections of free speech in the country.

This report details and rates each state’s protection against Strategic Litigation Aimed at Public Participation, or SLAPP. Plaintiffs in these types of suits use this legal maneuvering to prevent people from exercising their rights to freedom of speech…

The progress in recent years is a welcome trend, but there are still too many states in which plaintiffs with deep pockets can threaten critics with financial ruin if they don’t shut up, said David Keating, president of the Institute for Free Speech. Keating was co-author of the report, along with Helen Knowles-Gardner and Dan Greenberg.

“A strong anti-SLAPP law is one of the best and easiest protections for free speech states can provide,” Keating said.

The laws are all state-based and there is no federal statute on the books.

The Courts

Roll Call: Lawsuit settlement modifies rules for Capitol Hill demonstrations

By Chris Marquette

.....A lawsuit filed by a Presbyterian minister who was denied permission to hold a prayer vigil on the West Front of the Capitol several months after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection has resulted in loosened rules around permits for demonstrations on the campus and limited the exemptions that lawmakers are afforded regarding protests.

A settlement in the case increases the number of people allowed to demonstrate without a permit to 30, up from 19. And the minimum time between a permit application and the proposed demonstration has been reduced from 10 business days to five.

The settlement also limits when members of Congress are entitled to exemptions from the Capitol Police Board’s traffic regulations on demonstrations. Those exemptions apply only if they meet all three of the following conditions: the member is engaging in that activity in their official capacity; the activity is sponsored or organized by the lawmaker; and, if people other than the member are participating, the member must be present “at all times” for the exemption to last.

Carolina Journal: Lawsuit seeks to ease NC prohibition on legal advice

By David N. Bass

.....A lawsuit filed Jan. 4 in the Eastern District of North Carolina seeks to free up regulations surrounding legal advice in the state.

The lawsuit — filed jointly by the NC Justice for All Project and the Institute for Justice — seeks to allow non-lawyers to provide limited legal advice on subjects such as domestic violence, evictions, restraining orders, uncontested divorces, and child custody. The advice would be provided either free or at a substantial discount over what an attorney typically charges. 

Under current NC laws, non-attorneys are prohibited from such activity, which is called unauthorized practice of law and punishable by up to 120 days in jail.

“Advice, even advice about important subjects like one’s legal rights, is speech protected by the First Amendment,” said Institute for Justice attorney Christian Lansinger during a press conference announcing the lawsuit.

Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): First Amendment Likely Protects Even Unlicensed Engineers' Right to Provide Expert Opinion in Government Proceedings

By Eugene Volokh

.....From the Conclusion to last week's decision by Judge Richard Myers (E.D.N.C.) in Nutt v. Ritter:

SEC

Daily Caller: SEC Rules Major Tech Company Can’t Block Free Speech Resolution

By Katelynn Richardson

.....The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) declined on Tuesday Apple’s request to block votes for a “free speech” shareholder resolution.

The resolution, submitted by the American Family Association (AFA), would have Apple investigate how it curates content and issue a report to address concerns that company policies enable restricting speech based on viewpoint. The SEC shot down Apple’s bid to exclude the resolution from the ballot at its upcoming 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, ensuring a vote on the resolution in the spring, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).

Free Expression

Inside Higher Ed: Just Follow the First Amendment

By Max Schanzenbach and Kimberly Yuracko

.....By voluntarily embracing a First Amendment speech standard, private universities would incorporate by reference a large body of case law and evaluative principles. In an area as confused and subject to manipulation as speech and conduct codes, this approach has obvious benefits. University committees tasked with assessing a situation could rely on case law instead of their own often meager and contradictory internal precedents, and university counsel could provide clearer guidance.

Liberal Patriot: Democrats! Time to Re-Embrace Merit, Free Speech, and Universalism

By Ruy Teixeira

.....Democrats also used to be steadfast defenders of free speech. Free speech was viewed as integral to advancing the agenda of the left and the labor movement, against those who opposed that agenda and sought to suppress organizing efforts for social change. But the tables have turned and now in institutions where Democrats dominate, such as the universities, the commitment to free speech has become very shaky indeed. Conflation of speech with “violence” and “harm” and making people feel “unsafe” has put a damper on the free expression of ideas.

But this is not what voters want. They have a different model of discourse in mind, such as that suggested by this poll question tested from April to June last year among over 18,000 registered voters by RMG Research: