June 25, 2024

New from the Institute for Free Speech

Overland Park Nonprofit Sues Kansas to Speak Freely

.....The typical activities of a traditional grassroots group of concerned citizens shouldn’t be against the law.

Yet, Kansas’s current complex campaign finance regime resulted in an intrusive, controversial, and expensive investigation of Overland Park nonprofit Fresh Vision OP for doing just that. The probe and threat of criminal penalties after the group endorsed a mayoral candidate caused the group to suspend its work, showing how the law chills traditional grassroots activity.

Attorneys from the Institute for Free Speech and local counsel Josh Ney filed a federal lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas to protect Fresh Vision OP’s right to speak without fear of prosecution. Fresh Vision is a grassroots nonprofit promoting responsible policies in Overland Park.

Supreme Court

Bloomberg Law: Narrow ‘Trump Too Small’ Edict May Yet Stem Trademark Ban Blitz

By Kyle Jahner

.....The US Supreme Court’s “Trump Too Small” decision might tap the brakes on a stream of First Amendment challenges to trademark restrictions, despite it being explicitly written as a narrow ruling.

The Courts

New York Times: Assange Agrees to Plead Guilty in Exchange for Release, Ending Standoff With U.S.

By Glenn Thrush and Megan Specia

.....Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, agreed to plead guilty on Monday to a single felony count of illegally obtaining and disclosing national security material in exchange for his release from a British prison, ending his long and bitter standoff with the United States.

ABC News: Prosecutors say gag order is needed to keep Trump from inviting 'violent act' on law enforcement

By Peter Charalambous and Katherine Faulders

.....The judge in Donald Trump's federal classified documents case did not rule from the bench Monday on special counsel Jack Smith's request to impose a limited gag order on the former president's rhetoric toward law enforcement involved in the case, but appeared skeptical of prosecutors' arguments.

Prosecutors argued that a limited gag order was necessary to prevent the former president from inviting a "violent act" on law enforcement agents, claiming that was aware of the "predictable response of some of his supporters" when he made false statements about the FBI's August 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago -- including a campaign statement that President Joe Biden was "locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger."

Inside Higher Ed: Florida Argues It Could Stop Professors From Criticizing Governor

By Ryan Quinn

.....Last Friday, Cooper told the three 11th Circuit judges that professors’ speech in the classroom is government speech, and “the state, when it is the speaker, it can choose what it wants to say.” Cooper said a state can “insist that professors not offer—or espouse, I should say, and endorse—viewpoints that are contrary to the state’s.”

One of the three judges on the panel, a Donald Trump appointee, later asked a question that showed how far Cooper’s argument could extend. The judge posed a hypothetical about how much the state could limit classroom teaching if the judges were to accept Cooper’s arguments: “Could a legislature prohibit professors from saying anything negative about a current gubernatorial administration?”

Cooper replied: “I think, your honor, yes, because in the classroom the professor’s speech is the government’s speech and the government can restrict professors on a content-wide basis and restrict them from offering viewpoints.”

Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): Claim That Public School Employee Was Unconstitutionally Fired for Sharp Pro-COVID-Vaccine Post Can Go Forward

By Eugene Volokh

.....From Webb v. Aspen View Academy, decided Thursday by Magistrate Judge Scott Varholak (D. Colo.); the plaintiff was the Business Manager of a public charter school, and alleges she was fired in part based on a Facebook post (though there's a lot more there as well, discussed in the long opinion). Note that, the government may generally discipline (including by firing) an employee based on the employee's speech if:

Free Expression

The Atlantic: An Attack on Free Speech at Harvard

By Jeffrey Flier

.....Director of public education?In a recent op-ed in The Harvard Crimson—“Faculty Speech Must Have Limits”—the university’s dean of social science, Lawrence Bobo, made an extraordinary set of claims that seriously threaten academic freedom, including the chilling idea that faculty members who dare to criticize the university should be punished. Bobo is a senior administrator at Harvard, overseeing centers and departments including history, economics, sociology, and African and African American studies. When he writes about faculty free speech, those within and outside his division listen.

His essay reflects a poor appreciation of the norms and values that academic freedom was developed to protect. As the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard—a faculty group of which I am co-president—has written, “A university must ensure that the work of its scholars receives robust, informed, and impartial appraisal that applies the best truth-seeking standards appropriate to their discipline—without pressure to bow to the opinions of the state, a corporation, a university administrator, or those (including students) who express feelings of outrage or harm about ideas they dislike.”

The States

Tribune-Democrat: Pa. House panel advances bills to curtail 'dark money' and AI-generated political impersonations

By Ford Turner, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

.....A pair of bills that attempt to curb election influence garnered in two different ways — via so-called "dark money" and by artificial intelligence — advanced in bipartisan committee votes on Monday, although it appears neither is a finished product.

Both passed the Democrat-controlled House State Government Committee with all Democrats and some Republicans in support. Both will move to the full House for consideration, as lawmakers on Monday began a busy week of voting and negotiating ahead of the June 30 state budget deadline.

WHYY: Colleges would face financial punishments for boycotting or divesting from Israel under new Pa. bill

By Kate Huangpu

.....Colleges and universities that boycott Israel or make financial decisions to penalize that country would be blocked from receiving state funding under a bill supported by a bipartisan group of Pennsylvania senators.

The legislation would also prevent any public fund, including those managed by the Pennsylvania Treasury, from taking similar action.

The state senators introduced the bill in response to protests at campuses across the commonwealth and the nation against Israel’s war in Gaza and the civilian death toll. Among their demands, students have pressed university administrations to sever financial ties with Israel, Israeli companies, and other companies that invest in Israel.

The bill defines boycott or divestment as “actions that are intended to financially penalize the government of Israel or commercial financial activity in Israel.” However, the entities covered by the bill would still be able to make financial decisions that involve Israel for other reasons, like poor investment performance.

Fox News: Dem AGs slapped with lawsuit over 'threats' to shut down sexual assault advocacy group for at-home rape kits

By Aubrie Spady and Andrew Murray 

.....Two Democratic state attorneys general are being sued on claims that they are violating the First Amendment with "threats" to shut down an organization that seeks to expand aid for survivors of sexual assault with a government-alternative "self-administered DNA collection" kit.

Willamette Week: Facing a Budget Crunch, Portland’s Small Donor Elections Program Explores Loosening Rules

By Sophie Peel

.....Amid a cash crunch limiting the matching taxpayer dollars candidates for Portland City Council and mayor can receive for the November election, the city’s Small Donor Elections program is exploring how it can make its rules less stringent around in-kind contributions.

In a survey sent to candidates June 21, the director of Small Donor Elections, Susan Mottet, asked candidates how they felt about increasing the ceiling on in-kind contributions from outside organizations.