June 21, 2024

New from the Institute for Free Speech

Comments to the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices

.....On June 18, 2024, the Institute for Free Speech provided comments to the Executive Director of the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices on its annual report on constitutional amendments regarding campaign finance laws.

Read a PDF of the letter here.

Free Speech Arguments – Can You Be Punished for Sharing Publicly Broadcast Court Hearings (Somberg v. McDonald)

.....Nicholas Somberg v. Karen McDonald, argued before Senior Judge Alice M. Batchelder, Judge Amul R. Thapar, and Judge Andre B. Mathis in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on June 12, 2024. Argued by Philip L. Ellison (on behalf of Nicholas Somberg) and Brooke E. Tucker (on behalf of Karen McDonald).

Supreme Court

SCOTUSblog: Supreme Court allows ex-council member’s retaliatory arrest lawsuit to move forward

By Amy Howe

.....The court handed a win to a former-city council member in Texas on Thursday, clearing the way for her federal civil rights claim to move forward. Sylvia Gonzalez contends that her 2019 arrest on charges that she had tampered with government records came in retaliation for her criticism of the city manager in Castle Hills, Tex. In a brief unsigned opinion, the justices reinstated Gonzalez’s claim after a federal appeals court had thrown it out, holding that the lower court had applied an “overly cramped” reading of its caselaw.

Alaska Beacon: U.S. Supreme Court may consider Alaska’s ‘dark money’ disclosure rules

By James Brooks

.....Opponents of an Alaska law that requires the disclosure of “dark money” political donors are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the law.

A group of Republican and Republican-leaning plaintiffs filed a petition with the high court last week.

Under Alaska law, donors are required to disclose the “true source” of large contributions from politically oriented groups to local candidates…

Plaintiffs in the case are represented by former Alaska Attorney General Craig Richards and the Chicago-based Liberty Justice Center, which argued in last week’s filing that the law could violate the First Amendment.

The Courts

Florida Today: Federal judge blocks enforcement of financial disclosure rules for elected city officials

By Dave Berman

.....A federal judge has issued an injunction blocking enforcement of a state law that requires extensive financial disclosure by Florida's mayors and city council members.

U.S. District Court Judge Melissa Damian entered the preliminary injunction, preventing members of the Florida Commission on Ethics from enforcing the new requirement.

Damian's ruling comes in a federal lawsuit filed by a group of city and town officials, claiming the rule violates the First Amendment.

Municipal officials feared that the added disclosure requirement would discourage residents from running for municipal office, and potentially could create vacancies on city and town councils or commissions…

Last year, the Florida Legislature enacted a new law, Senate Bill 774, requiring them to file a Form 6, which is a significantly more detailed form that state legislators and county elected officials file. Form 6 also requires disclosure of the amount of their net worth; the amount of their income, including from their primary jobs; the value of each of their assets; and the amounts of each liability…

The judge's 33-page ruling found that this is a First Amendment issue, because, "where, as here, a law compels disclosure of financial information the speakers would not otherwise have disclosed, the law burdens speech and does fall within the purview of the First Amendment."

Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): Professors Lacked First Amendment Right to Post Flyers Calling Colleague and Student Group Racist

By Eugene Volokh

.....From Gruber v. Tenn. Tech. Bd. of Trustees, decided May 16 by Sixth Circuit Judges Richard Griffin, Helene White, and Eric Murphy, but just posted on Westlaw; for criticism of the lower court decision, which the panel upheld, see this post by our own Keith Whittington:

Congress

VTDigger: Becca Balint announces new bill to crack down on dishonest small-dollar campaign donations

By Sarah Mearhoff

.....U.S. Rep. Becca Balint wants to see more transparency around small-dollar donations to political candidates.

The first-term member of Congress announced on Tuesday her plans to introduce a bill in the U.S. House which would charge the Federal Election Commission with establishing rules to govern how campaigns publicly disclose the number of donors who give $200 or less to support federal candidates…

FEC rules require campaigns to report the names of donors and the amount donated for all contributions of $200 or more. Balint’s bill wouldn’t mandate that level of detail on smaller individual contributions, as she contended that could have a chilling effect on small donations. Rather, her bill calls for standardizing how the number of those donations are counted and reported.

Biden Administration

Fox News: Seven federal agencies have pushed tech giants to censor Americans, Media Research Center says

By Brian Flood

.....The [Media Research Center] analyzed actions of several federal agencies as the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hand down its opinion on Murthy v. Missouri, a case brought by the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana to prevent the Biden administration from colluding with and coercing Big Tech companies to censor Americans. The watchdog group found that the Department of Homeland Security, Department of State, Department of Justice, Department of Defense, Department of Health and Human Services, National Science Foundation, and Department of the Treasury have all pushed for various forms of censorship. 

"There is a shocking degree of breadth and coordination within the Biden administration to use our tax dollars against us. We have never seen this kind of effort to silence regular, everyday Americans," MRC Free Speech America vice president Dan Schneider told Fox News Digital. 

Free Expression

Wall Street Journal: Harvard’s Dean of Speech Sanctions

By The Editorial Board

.....Harvard has some slow learners, especially in the dean’s office. Lawrence Bobo, the dean of social science, kicked up a storm this week when he wrote in the Harvard Crimson that faculty members who criticize Harvard or its policies should be subject to university punishment.

Free speech “does not amount to a blank check to engage in behaviors that plainly incite external actors—be it the media, alumni, donors, federal agencies, or the government—to intervene in Harvard’s affairs,” the dean wrote. Criticizing university leadership or publicizing policies that upset donors or Congressional committees, he added, is “outside the bounds of acceptable professional conduct” and may “cross a line into sanctionable violations.” Thanks, dean, for this window on the Harvard administration’s mind.

The States

Sun Sentinel: Florida Supreme Court allows judicial candidates to declare political ideology

By Rafael Olmeda

.....The Florida Supreme Court cleared the way for judicial candidates across the state to openly declare their political ideology — as long as they don’t disclose their party affiliation.

The high court’s decision was tucked in a ruling over how to penalize a St. Johns County judge who told potential voters in a 2022 campaign voicemail that she was a conservative. Judicial races are supposed to be nonpartisan, but the high court ruled her statement was ethically permissible.

“To describe oneself as a ‘conservative’ does not signal bias, pro or con, toward anyone or on any issue,” the justices ruled, overriding the findings of the Judicial Qualifications and the admission of the judge facing discipling, County Court Judge Casey L. Woolsey.

Judges have been publicly scolded for even admitting their political party registration in response to questions from the media. But Woolsey never said she was a Republican. “The statement ‘I am a conservative’ is not partisan, either inherently or, as the JQC believed, when made during an election campaign in a predominantly Republican community,” the court ruled.

Washington Post: New York moves to limit 'addictive' social media feeds for kids

By Anthony Izaguirre, AP

.....New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday signed a bill that would allow parents to block their children from getting social media posts suggested by a platform’s algorithm, a move to limit feeds critics argue are addictive.

Under the legislation, feeds on apps like TikTok and Instagram would be limited for people under age 18 to posts from accounts they follow, rather than content suggested by an automated algorithm. It would also block platforms from sending minors notifications on suggested posts between midnight and 6 a.m.

Both provisions could be turned off if a minor gets what the bill defines as “verifiable parental consent.” …

NetChoice, a tech industry trade group that includes X and Meta, has criticized the legislation as unconstitutional.

“This is an assault on free speech and the open internet by the State of New York,” Carl Szabo, vice president and general counsel of NetChoice, said in a statement. “New York has created a way for the government to track what sites people visit and their online activity by forcing websites to censor all content unless visitors provide an ID to verify their age.”

Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): Florida S. Ct. Reads Florida Anti-Riot Statute as Narrowly Focused on Violence

By Eugene Volokh

.....From DeSantis v. Dream Defenders, decided today by the Florida Supreme Court, in an opinion by Justice John Couriel, joined by all his colleagues other than Judge Jorge Labarga:

News 5: Ohio Republicans draft bill to require campaign fund disclosure amid DeWine text message debacle

By Morgan Trau

.....While Gov. Mike DeWine is dealing with the ongoing discovery of text messages linking him to now-indicted FirstEnergy executives, Ohio Republican lawmakers are drafting legislation requiring greater campaign finance disclosure. The bill sponsor gave us the first look…

"My one takeaway from your story is — we need to get rid of all of it," House Finance Chair Jay Edwards (R-Nelsonville) said about dark money...

He and state Rep. Sara Carruthers (R-Hamilton) are currently drafting a bill to require some sort of disclosure for dark money groups...

House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) would support more disclosures but raised concerns about how this type of legislation can be implemented.

"The First Amendment and the federal Supreme Court decisions make it a little more challenging to deal with that issue," Stephens said.

Fox News: I'm the cake artist who won at the Supreme Court. Here's why I'm still in court

By Jack Phillips 

.....I stood in court with my Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys once again on Tuesday, asking the Colorado Supreme Court for justice on essentially the same complaint that’s been pursuing me, relentlessly, for more than 10 years now: the demand that I express a message—whether I believe it or not.

I’m a cake artist. I treat my customers—each and all—with respect. I hope you know by now that I gladly serve people from all backgrounds. I decide to create custom cakes based on what they will express, not who requests them. It’s always the message, never the person.