February 12, 2024

In the News

Inside Investigator: Anti-SLAPP: Combatting lawsuits to prevent free speech in CT

By Katherine Revello

.....Connecticut’s anti-SLAPP law currently has an A- grade from the Institute for Free Speech (IFS), a non-profit organization that provides pro-bono legal services to people whose First Amendment rights are being threatened.

Previously, the organization scored the state’s law a B+ because, as written, it did not include a right to interlocutory appeal. “Speaking generally, that is a request to a higher court for it to decide a particular issue immediately. In most litigation, interlocutory appeals are difficult to obtain, so this right of appeal is an important feature of an anti-SLAPP law. Without it, a defendant who loses an anti-SLAPP motion would be forced to continue to litigate the entire trial before the finding on the motion could even be appealed.” IFS noted in its previous analysis of Connecticut’s law.

However, recent companion rulings from the Connecticut Supreme Court established that right does exist within the law. In Pryor v. Brignole, Smith v. Supple, and Robinson v. V.D, which were decided in May 2023, the court overturned lower court rulings holding that appeals needed to be delayed.

BNN: First Amendment Retaliation Case Dismissed: The Fine Line Between Personal and Public Concern

.....The Institute for Free Speech has filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case, Murthy v. Missouri, urging the court to establish a clear rule against government officials privately soliciting the removal or suppression of lawful political speech. The brief argues that such actions violate the First Amendment and interfere with the marketplace of political ideas.

The Institute also challenges the government's use of the "government speech" doctrine to suppress private citizens' speech on private platforms. This case could have far-reaching implications for free speech in the digital era, potentially setting a precedent for protecting lawful political speech from government interference.

Just the News: Qualified immunity on trial: SCOTUS reviews cases by jailed grandma, coerced college student

By Greg Piper

.....The justices are considering a related issue in an IJ case scheduled for oral argument next month that prompted more than a dozen outside briefs.

It pits Texas, 10 other Republican-led states and the National Sheriffs' Association against the ideologically varied ACLU, Institute for Free Speech and Thomas More Society, a pro-life religious liberty law firm.

Sylvia Gonzalez sued Castle Hill, Texas, officials for retaliatory arrest, jailing and attempted removal from office following the septuaginarian's surprise victory for a City Council seat and petition calling for the allegedly abusive and aloof city manager's removal.

FEC

Washington Post: Democrats file FEC complaint against Robert Kennedy Jr. and allied super PAC

By Michael Scherer

.....The Democratic National Committee accused third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday of violating federal election law by unlawfully coordinating with a supportive super PAC in a $15 million effort to collect signatures for state ballot access.

Complaint

Free Expression

Reason: Tucker Carlson Is No 'Traitor' for Doing Journalism

By J.D. Tuccille

.....Is a journalist's trip to a hostile country "treason?" Should that journalist be barred from the U.S. on the chance that he's performing an act of journalism, such as interviewing a foreign leader? The answer to both of these questions, for anybody who isn't a jackass, is "no." And yet Tucker Carlson's presence in Russia has excited a frenzy of speculation and protest because of the controversial talking head's populist politics.

Nonprofits

Wall Street Journal: How the Rockefellers and Billionaire Donors Pressured Biden on LNG Exports

By Benoît Morenne and Andrew Restuccia

.....Charities controlled by members of the Rockefeller family and billionaire donors were key funders of a successful campaign to pressure President Biden to pause new approvals of liquefied natural gas exports from the U.S…

The billionaire-backed campaign, starting around four years ago, worked to identify and fund community leaders already campaigning against fossil-fuel projects. The activists buttonholed White House and federal officials in Washington, Houston and Dubai as part of a high-intensity grassroots campaign…

“They got our attention,” a senior Biden administration official said of the activists’ efforts, describing the campaign as intense.

Online Speech Platforms

Washington Post: Meta turns its back on politics again, angering some news creators

By Taylor Lorenz and Naomi Nix

.....Meta announced on Friday it would stop proactively recommending political content on Instagram or its upstart text-based app Threads, alarming news and politics-focused creators and journalists gearing up for a crucial election year.

While users will still be allowed to follow accounts that post about political and social issues, accounts posting such content will not be recommended and content posted by nonpolitical accounts that is political in nature or includes social commentary also won’t be recommended, Meta said.

The company said it also won’t show users posts focused on laws, elections or social issues from accounts those users don’t follow.

“This announcement expands on years of work on how we approach and treat political content based on what people have told us they wanted,” said Meta spokesperson Dani Lever.

Intercept: Meta Considering Increased Censorship of the Word “Zionist”

By Sam Biddle

.....Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, Meta, is contemplating stricter rules around discussing Israeli nationalism on its platforms, a major policy change that could stifle criticism and free expression about the war in Gaza and beyond, five civil society sources who were briefed on the potential change told The Intercept.

The States

OPB: Oregon power players in business, labor are negotiating a campaign finance package

By Dirk VanderHart

.....Oregon business and labor groups have quietly begun negotiating a deal that could result in campaign contribution limits in state races for the first time in decades.

The surprising development, confirmed to OPB by four people with direct knowledge of the talks, is an attempt to avoid a potentially costly ballot fight in November. If the two sides are able to find a workable proposal — a tall order in the compressed timeline of a five-week short session — it could be an opportunity for lawmakers to act.

Oregon is one of just five states with no limits on political giving.

Details of a tentative deal are being closely guarded, but talks between business groups like Oregon Business & Industry and representatives of large labor unions have been going on for nearly a week, one participant said. Even that is notable: The two sides often oppose one another in political campaigns and policy matters, and in the past have disagreed about what a system of contribution limits should look like.

People United for Privacy: Comments on Oklahoma Ethics Commission Rulemaking Request R-24-01

By Matt Nese

.....People United for Privacy submits the following comments on Rulemaking Request R-24-01, which is scheduled for consideration at the Oklahoma Ethics Commission’s regular meeting on February 9, 2024. The proposal, modeled after Arizona’s Proposition 211 statute, misleadingly dubbed the “Voters’ Right to Know Act,” contains substantial constitutional issues, faces several ongoing legal challenges in Arizona, and would significantly burden the free speech and privacy rights of Oklahomans and the important nonprofit causes they support. It’s especially risky for Oklahoma to pursue this measure, given the certainty of costly and complex litigation that would follow.

PDF

Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): Donald Trump is the Victim of Selective Prosecution

By Steven Calabresi

.....Alvin Bragg's indictment of Trump for paying hush money to Stormy Daniels and not reporting it as a campaign expenditure is also a case of selective prosecution. John Edwards, the Vice Presidential running mate along with John Kerry in 2004, had used more than $1 million in campaign money to hide his very own illegitimate affair. Edwards case led to the U.S. Justice Department adopting guideline against bringing charges about the use of campaign funds to cover up sexual affairs. If John Edwards gets off, then Donald Trump should too. This is another case of selective prosecution based on Trump's political views to go after him so Alvin Bragg can win a Democratic primary in New York for some higher elective office.