The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech August 5, 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]. In the News Just the News: Censored professors notch wins in legal fights over DEI dogma, depictions of Prophet Muhammad By Greg Piper .....Public and private universities that took action against professors for their external and classroom expression were hit with legal setbacks this week – including one that never employed the scholar who sued. Portland State University political scientist Bruce Gilley secured an injunction against University of Oregon Division of Equity and Inclusion officials that stops them from blocking his interaction with UO Equity's X account, or "hiding, muting, or deleting" several kinds of his posts to its account, as his First Amendment challenge enters its third year. "It will be interesting to see how much longer UO wants to use tax payer's [sic] money to fight for the right to discriminate based on viewpoint," Gilley's attorney Del Kolde at the Institute for Free Speech wrote on LinkedIn. "They have already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars." MRC NewsBusters: Sen. Rand Paul Pushes Bill to Fix SCOTUS’s Flawed First Amendment Ruling By Luis Cornelio .... The bill, named the Standing to Challenge Government Censorship Act, would prohibit federal workers and contractors from using their positions to instruct Big Tech platforms to censor constitutionally protected speech online. Bureaucrats who break the law would face civil lawsuits from affected Americans. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Reps. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) and Dan Bishop (R-NC) introduced the bill on Wednesday in response to the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in Murthy v. Missouri. The Court ruled that the pro-free speech plaintiffs did not have standing to sue the federal government over its censorship collusion with Big Tech… Other organizations endorsing the legislation include the Institute for Free Speech, Heritage Action, Frontiers of Freedom Institute, Americans for Limited Government, Ginn Economic Consulting, Consumer Choice Center, American Commitment, NetChoice and America Matters. Bridge Michigan: We must act to protect free speech in Michigan By Kara Hope .....Michigan is one of only 17 states that does not have any protections against these frivolous types of retaliatory lawsuits. The nonprofit, nonpartisan Institute for Free Speech gave Michigan a failing grade on its 2023 Anti-SLAPP report card for lacking legislation that protects victims from these suits. Protecting free speech and leveling the playing field are why I introduced House Bill 5788. The Courts Courthouse News: Sixth Circuit tosses parent group’s challenge to Ohio school district’s pronoun policy By Dave Byrnes .....A Sixth Circuit panel ruled in favor of a suburban Columbus, Ohio, school district on Monday, upholding its protections for transgender students. The Olentangy Local School District's anti-harassment policies and code of conduct bar discrimination based on "sexual orientation and transgender identity." The national conservative group Parents Defending Education argued in their May 2023 lawsuit that these policies mandated the use of transgender students' preferred pronouns and violated the First Amendment. The group asked a federal court in Ohio for an injunction on the policies. When U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley, a Bill Clinton appointee, declined to issue an injunction last July, it turned to the Sixth Circuit. Seventeen GOP-dominated states backed the appeal, as did multiple conservative groups, religious organizations and the Ohio ACLU — which also argued the policies restricted students' speech. Congress Reuters: US Senate committee rejects effort to bar AI disclosure rules for political ads By David Shepardson .....The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday rejected a bid to bar the Federal Communications Commission from requiring broadcast radio and television political advertisements to disclose whether content is generated by artificial intelligence. The FCC voted earlier this month to propose the disclosure rules and opened the proposal for public comment through mid-October. Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell said the FCC will not be able to finalize the rules before the November presidential election. Republican senators have raised concerns and sought to attach a ban on AI legislation but the committee voted 14-12 along party lines to reject a ban. DOJ New York Post: The FBI is back to meddling in free speech on social media By Post Editorial Board .....They just can’t help themselves: The FBI is once again dipping its toes back into social-media meddling. In response to a Department of Justice report on “information sharing” about “foreign malign influence threats to U.S. elections” released in July, Associate Deputy Attorney General George. D. Turner issued a memo stating that the FBI “will resume regular meetings in the coming weeks with social media companies to brief and discuss potential FMI threats involving the companies’ platforms.” The info-sharing quarterly meetings began “after the 2018 midterm election and ended in mid-2023,” according to the DOJ’s report. Now the DOJ wants to start them up again, just in time for the 2024 election. FEC FEC Weekly Digest: Week of July 29 – August 2, 2024 .....Advisory Opinion Request 2024-11 (Caroline Gleich) On August 1, the Commission made public an advisory opinion request from Caroline Gleich, a 2024 candidate for the U.S. Senate in Utah. The requestor asks whether she may receive salary payments from her campaign committee during the 20-day period after she ceases to become a candidate for work performed prior to the end of her candidacy, and whether her appearances in paid advertisements to promote the products and services of brands and companies within 90 days of an election in Utah are exempt from regulation as coordinated communications. The Commission will accept written comments on the request during the 10-day period following publication of the request (no later than August 12) and must issue a response no later than 60 days after the receipt of the complete request, that is, September 24, 2024. Candidates and Campaigns Wall Street Journal: Harris and the First Amendment By The Editorial Board .....Ms. Harris made headlines a decade ago by threatening to punish nonprofit groups that refused to turn over unredacted donor information. She demanded they hand to the state their federal IRS Form 990 Schedule B in the name of discovering “self dealing” or “improper loans.” The real purpose was to learn the names of conservative donors and chill future political giving—that is, political speech. Her bullying came amid the Internal Revenue Service’s notorious targeting of conservative nonprofits; Wisconsin’s probe of GOP donors; Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin’s intimidation of donors to the American Legislative Exchange Council; and a campaign of harassment against donors who supported California’s Prop 8 (which banned same-sex marriage). The Hill: I’m a civil rights attorney, here’s the truth about Kamala Harris’s appalling record By Harmeet Dhillon .....Harris went on to distort California charity regulations by stretching non-profit donor reporting laws to force charities to out their donors. This policy chilled nonprofit donations as proponents of cancel culture used public disclosures to blacklist, boycott and pressure donors. The Supreme Court struck down Harris’s policy as an unconstitutional First Amendment violation in Americans for Prosperity v. Bonta. In doing so, the court reaffirmed its landmark decision in NAACP v. Alabama that the First Amendment protects the civil right of private association. Harris was unfazed, having already moved on. Reason: Trump's Favorite Justice Was One of Those 'Stupid People' Who Think Flag Burning Is Protected Speech By Jacob Sullum .....During a presidential debate in 2016, Donald Trump described the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as a "great judge" and promised to "appoint judges very much in the mold of Justice Scalia." Trump may not have realized that Scalia was one of those "stupid people" who think flag burning is protected by the First Amendment. The States LinkNKY: Boone County GOP sues election finance board over civil rights violations By Rebecca Hanchett .....The Boone County Republican Party and GOP parties from two other counties have sued Kentucky Registry of Election Finance officials for alleged civil rights violations, citing an advisory opinion they said has chilled their First Amendment rights. The lawsuit was filed July 22 in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Kentucky by the Boone County, Hardin County and Jessamine County Republican Party executive committees against the registry’s board members and registry executive director John Steffen. It followed a July 8 advisory opinion (2024-02) issued by the registry that said, “A county (political party) executive committee may not use the funds that it raises for party nominees to support a constitutional amendment.” Colorado Springs Gazette: When political winds change, hold fast to privacy and free speech By Heather Lauer .....This year, the General Assembly acted on that wisdom by passing S.B. 24-129, known informally as the Personal Privacy Protection Act (PPPA). Signed by Gov. Jared Polis on May 28, the PPPA safeguards every Coloradan’s right to support causes they believe in — left, right, or center — without fear of harassment or retaliation. The law limits the collection and exposure of sensitive identifying information about the members, donors and volunteers to nonprofit groups. Not long ago, many Americans would support nonprofits without considering the impact on their privacy. But in today’s heated political atmosphere, doxing and threats are on the rise. The internet and social media have made it easier than ever for bad actors to weaponize personal information against their ideological opponents. The National Desk: Virginia AG presses Dem fundraising platform on 'suspicious' donations By Jackson Walker .....Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares on Friday sent a strongly-worded letter to Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue, decrying what he called “deceptive” practices. ActBlue, he wrote, has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations which “appear suspicious.” Some ActBlue donors, he continued, are senior citizens who are retired or do not otherwise have employment. Election Law Blog: “States Legislating Against Digital Deception: A Comparative Study of Laws to Mitigate Deepfake Risks in American Political Advertisements” By Spencer Overton .....Hayden Goldberg’s new piece on SSRN: Abstract “Scholars have long debated whether or not new laws are needed to address new technologies and their risks, or if existing laws are sufficient. This thesis examines one of the newest technologies – deepfakes – in the context of an essential areas of governance – election law – and asks two questions. First, “are recently passed bills prohibiting unlabeled deepfakes in campaign advertisements necessary?” To answer this question, I ask “what risks do legislators envision new and old laws addressing?” For new laws, I transcribe their statements in committee hearings and conduct a qualitative thematic analysis to develop risk models. For old laws, I draw on hearings and case law…” Read an article you think we would be interested in? 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