February 2024: Monthly Donor News Update

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When library staff typically interrupt a conversation, it is due to a speaker’s volume in the reading rooms—not because they disagree with what they’re saying.

Yet, that’s why the Yolo County California Public Library staff shut down an event in the library’s public meeting room organized by the local chapter of Moms for Liberty.

Moms for Liberty (M4L) and several other California civic organizations and individuals are challenging the censorship of Yolo County Public Library officials. The suit argues that the library’s policies and practices violate First Amendment free speech rights by discriminating based on viewpoint.

The case stems from a “Forum on Fair and Safe Sports for Girls” event organized by M4L in August to discuss the issue of biological males competing in female sports. M4L paid to reserve publicly available space in the library for the event.

Library Regional Manager Scott Love invited disruptive protesters to the event and then shut down the Forum almost immediately after it began.

In addition to ending the August event after just a few minutes, Yolo County librarians have actively organized opposition to plaintiffs’ events, directed protestors to attend meetings, failed to stop repeated disruptions, and contacted law enforcement to urge action against the speakers to make it difficult for the plaintiffs to use library meeting rooms.

The lawsuit seeks injunctions against continued enforcement of the library’s unconstitutional policies and practices, both generally and against the plaintiff organizations and individuals.

Photo credit: Laura Belin

Five Years of Censorship Ends in Days Thanks to Institute for Free Speech Lawsuit

It took five years of determination, but reporter Laura Belin finally has her press credentials from the Iowa House of Representatives.

The House Chief Clerk has now recognized the obvious truth that Belin has a First Amendment right to perform her vital role of informing the public without facing unfair obstacles. That resolution of a long-simmering dispute over free speech and press freedom rights came mere days after the filing of a federal lawsuit by the Institute for Free Speech.

Belin has sought press credentials from the Iowa House of Representatives before every legislative session since January 2019. In her requests, Belin has demonstrated how her independent online news site, Bleeding Heartland, meets the House's stated requirements for media access. Belin also now works as the Statehouse reporter for KHOI Radio.

Despite those qualifications, the House Chief Clerk denied Belin's credentials in each instance, offering shifting rationales—first saying she did not qualify as media at all, then denying her based on being "nontraditional" media, before finally denying access with no explanation.

As of today, Belin has her credentials at long last.

Supporters of the Institute for Free Speech are helping to keep the First Amendment alive, and with it, our right to freely speak, assemble, publish, and petition the government. Join the fight for free speech today by making a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation at ifs.org/donate.

Pictured: Professor Daymon Johnson. Photo credit: Vinnicius Lopes

Notable and Quotable: Academic Freedom Under Attack in America’s Universities

“Some faculty members are either being forced out, fired, or they’ve found the atmosphere for research and teaching so oppressive that many of them have quit” said Institute for Free Speech President David Keating during a recent interview with Voice of America.

In recent years, the Institute for Free Speech has taken on an increasing number of cases related to First Amendment violations at public universities. One in particular, Johnson v. Watkin, has gained national attention, being cited in a Wall Street Journal lead editorial last summer and was just mentioned in a recent New York Times op-ed by David French on the “Dangers of D.E.I.”

You can read about the case by visiting our website here.

Photo credit: Helen Knowles-Gardner

Institute for Free Speech Director of Research Helen Knowles-Gardner in TIME Magazine

Below is an excerpt from the TIME January 16^th article titled, What’s Behind the Fight Over Whether Nonprofits Can Be Forced to Disclose Donors’ Names.

“Sixty-six years ago, the Supreme Court unanimously decided in NAACP v. Alabama ex rel. Patterson that compelling private organizations to disclose the identities of their members and donors violates those members' First Amendment freedoms of speech and assembly.

But ever since, the courts have made numerous exceptions, emphasizing that the constitutionally protected right to associate is not absolute, especially regarding campaign contributions.”

One of the most notable rebukes of these exceptions came from the 2021 Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFPF) v. Bonta SCOTUS ruling that required “narrow tailoring” of California’s nonprofit disclosure requirements.

Fun Fact: The Institute for Free Speech was one of only four amicus briefs filed in the AFPF v Bonta discussed by the U.S. Supreme Court justices at oral argument. Justice Gorsuch asked both Solicitor General Prelogar and California’s attorney some hypotheticals pulled straight from our brief—whether the government could compel people to turn over their holiday card lists or a list of people they had dated.

Additionally, the Institute for Free Speech also played a major role in recruiting dozens of center-left organizations, including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, to file amicus briefs in support of AFPF’s position at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Invest in the future of America today by supporting the Institute for Free Speech’s work to protect and defend free speech today by making a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation at ifs.org/donate.