The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech January 22, 2024 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]. Ed. note: Yesterday, January 21, 2024, marked the fourteenth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission, a landmark victory for free speech. Read some of our previous commentary and research related to the ruling here. In the News Bleeding Heartland: I'm suing the Iowa House Chief Clerk over denial of press credentials By Laura Belin .....“The First Amendment prohibits government officials from arbitrarily denying reporters access to official information, and from discriminating against reporters based on their viewpoint,” declares a federal lawsuit filed on my behalf on January 19. Yet since 2019, the Iowa House Chief Clerk “has arbitrarily applied an ever-shifting credentialing system” to limit my “ability to gather and report political news” from the Iowa House chamber. The Institute for Free Speech filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, making four claims under the U.S. Constitution. First, by denying me access to the Iowa House press bench, where other statehouse reporters can closely observe House debate and attend regular briefings by House Speaker Pat Grassley, Chief Clerk Meghan Nelson is violating my First Amendment rights of free speech and freedom of the press. New from the Institute for Free Speech Journalist Laura Belin Sues Iowa House Clerk over Denial of Press Credentials .....The First Amendment rights to a free press and free speech ensure that government officials can’t unequally apply rules to deny a journalist access. Yet, that’s exactly what the clerk of the Iowa House of Representatives has been doing to reporter Laura Belin for years. Today, Institute for Free Speech attorneys filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Belin against Iowa House Chief Clerk Meghan Nelson for repeatedly and arbitrarily denying Belin’s application for press credentials. Belin is a well-respected reporter with nearly three decades of experience as a journalist. The lawsuit challenges Chief Clerk Meghan Nelson’s unconstitutional refusal to grant Belin’s credentials. Congress Reason: AI Fraud Act Could Outlaw Parodies, Political Cartoons, and More By Elizabeth Nolan Brown .....Mixing new technology and new laws is always a fraught business, especially if the tech in question relates to communication. Lawmakers routinely propose bills that would sweep up all sorts of First Amendment-protected speech. We've seen a lot of this with social media, and we're starting to see it with artificial intelligence. Case in point: the No Artificial Intelligence Fake Replicas And Unauthorized Duplications (No AI FRAUD) Act. Under the auspices of protecting "Americans' individual right to their likeness and voice," the bill would restrict a range of content wide enough to ensnare parody videos, comedic impressions, political cartoons, and much more. The bill's sponsors, Reps. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) and Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), say they're concerned about "AI-generated fakes and forgeries," per a press release. They aim to protect people from unauthorized use of their own images and voices by defining these things as the intellectual property of each individual. Free Expression The Free Press: The Truth About Banned Books By James Fishback .....Over the last couple years, the media have peddled a narrative of “book bans” sweeping the nation... But the truth is a lot more complicated. Last spring, I wrote about the hijacking of high school debate for The Free Press. I detailed how judges disqualify students for advancing conservative arguments that the judges personally disagree with—effectively taking the debate out of high school debate. Since that article, I’ve spent time meeting with students, parents, teachers, and school board members. Several students complained that their school libraries had become one-sided, offering only books in line with progressive orthodoxy. So I decided to investigate just how one-sided things actually are. I surveyed the library catalogs of 35 of the largest public school districts in eight red states and six blue states, representing over 4,600 individual schools. All of these records are publicly available online...What I discovered isn’t so much a problem of banned books. It’s that kids are often exposed to only one side of the story. Daily Northwestern: Rohde: Universities should promote open debate and resist censorship By Stephen Rohde .....[O]n Oct. 25, 2023, the Anti-Defamation League and The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law wrote a joint letter to nearly 200 American colleges and universities urging them to investigate the activities of campus chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine for “potential violations of the prohibition against materially supporting a foreign terrorist organization.” That’s a very serious accusation. In fact, to date, student chapters of SJP have been suspended at Columbia, Brandeis (unaffiliated with the center), George Washington and Rutgers. Two chapters in Florida are in limbo. However, the joint letter does not accuse SJP of engaging in any conduct that would qualify as an exception to the First Amendment. Instead, it simply accuses SJP of disseminating “anti-Israel propaganda” that is “often laced with inflammatory and combative rhetoric,” calling for “confronting and ‘dismantling’ Zionism on U.S. college campuses,” and chanting statements like “We are Hamas” and “We echo Hamas.” As we have seen, these forms of speech are all constitutionally protected unless they cross the line into one of the exceptions, which the letter does not allege. Donor Privacy Detroit News: Lauer: Donor disclosure mandates would silence nonprofits By Heather Lauer .....Nonprofits play a lead role in fighting political corruption by serving as watchdogs and calling out bad behavior by our leaders. That’s not all nonprofits do to aid our democracy. They put a spotlight on issues that need attention from state agencies or the legislature. They also make sure the communities they serve are heard and represented during important policy debates on issues ranging from education and health care to public safety and the environment. To continue to do so, nonprofits must be able to keep their members confidential. Without privacy, opponents of a nonprofit’s mission might retaliate against its supporters in an effort to drive down donations and silence the group’s voice. Government officials could also abuse the information for partisan mischief. A decade ago, senior IRS leaders in the Obama administration were forced to resign after it was revealed that nonprofits promoting conservative views had been discriminated against by agency officials. The threat isn’t limited to one side of the aisle. Some Republicans in Congress and states across the country are increasingly scrutinizing donors to nonprofits that support social justice issues and other progressive causes to drive those organizations from the public debate. The States Minnesota Reformer: You might be a lobbyist now By Madison McVan .....Recent changes to the Minnesota laws regulating political advocacy have expanded the definition of a “lobbyist” and the universe of people who now have to register as one. The changes will have little effect on existing professional lobbyists but are expected to mandate a bevy of new people register as lobbyists under the rule’s wide umbrella, according to Jeff Sigurdson, executive director of the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. As of Jan. 1, anyone making or spending more than $3,000 to influence decisions by governmental bodies across the state must register. The new law applies to all of the state’s “political subdivisions,” including the state Legislature, city councils, county boards, local zoning authorities and school boards. Previously, lobbying rules did not apply to local governments except those in the seven-county Twin Cities metro. People who interact with elected officials as part of their job can meet the $3,000 threshold relatively easily if they spend a portion of their work time trying to influence government. For example, a small business owner in Bemidji making $100,000 per year who spends 3% of her time advocating for economic development programs through her local city council will now have to register as a lobbyist. KJZZ: Arizona Republican lawmaker tells ASU to cancel pro-communism event By Camryn Sanchez .....A Republican state lawmaker who previously defended the right to freedom of speech at Arizona’s public universities is now calling on Arizona State University to put a stop to a pro-communism event. Rep. Austin Smith (R-Wittman) served on a legislative committee that criticized ASU for allegedly stifling conservative speech on campus. Earlier this month, Smith said that students of all political persuasions should reach out to him for support... Now, Smith is calling on ASU President Michael Crow and the Arizona Board of Regents to condemn and shut down a pro-communism gathering scheduled for Jan. 21. In a prepared statement, Smith said, “Communist organizing is not free speech.” “ASU should prohibit the meeting from occurring on the university campus by whatever means are required,” he added. 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." The Institute for Free Speech is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that promotes and defends the political rights to free speech, press, assembly, and petition guaranteed by the First Amendment. Please support the Institute's mission by clicking here. For further information, visit www.ifs.org. 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