September 3, 2024

The Courts

Cleveland.com: Federal judge blocks enforcement of new Ohio ban on noncitizen contributions to ballot issue campaigns

.....A federal judge on Saturday blocked key portions of Ohio’s new law restricting lawful permanent residents, visa-holders and others from contributing to statewide ballot issue campaigns.

The injunction came one day before the law was to take effect.

U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson, in a 53-page ruling, prohibited the state from pursuing civil or criminal liability for any alleged violations based on the definition of a “foreign national.”

Ohio’s House Bill 1 passed earlier this year, incorporating what’s already federal law to the state level, prohibiting foreign citizens from contributing to political campaigns.

However, it went further in that it also prohibits lawful permanent residents, granted permission by the government to live in the U.S. in perpetuity, from contributing to issue campaigns or candidates. And it prohibits organizations from knowingly accepting any funds from a foreign national or lawful permanent resident.

Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): Confusing Use of Another Political Group's Name as "Source Identifier" May Lead to Trademark Injunction

By Eugene Volokh

.....From Wednesday's decision in Libertarian National Committee, Inc. v. Saliba, by Sixth Circuit Judge Julia Smith Gibbons, joined by Judges Guy Cole and Chad Readler:

Tampa Bay Times: St. Petersburg Uhurus claim free speech as Russia meddling trial set to start

By Dan Sullivan

.....If you believe the Uhurus, the criminal case against them is a sham, an effort by the government to silence their support for African people and criticisms of U.S. policy.

If you believe federal prosecutors, the St. Petersburg-based activist group engaged in a seven-year conspiracy with a Russian man with ties to the nation’s intelligence service as part of an effort to foster discord in U.S. politics, promote secessionist ideologies and interfere in local elections.

If you believe a federal judge, the allegations against the Uhurus are not protected as free speech if they were done at the direction of a foreign government.

A jury will be the one to decide who’s right.

Starting [this] week, and lasting as long as a month, three current members and one former member of the Uhuru Movement will face trial in a Tampa federal courtroom.

In a news conference this week ahead of what they proclaim will be the “trial of the century,” the group invoked their American constitutional rights to defend against what they call a political prosecution.

Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): Ohio Criminal Harassment Statute Unconstitutional as to Certain Emails Sent to Government Official

By Eugene Volokh

.....So Magistrate Judge Stephanie Bowman concludes (correctly, I think) in her Report and Recommendation in today's Hicks v. Faris (S.D. Ohio):

Congress

The Federalist: Democrat-Controlled States Refuse To Clean Voter Rolls And Fix Election Problems

By Sen. Ron Johnson

.....In March 2023, journalist James O’Keefe first reported on a campaign financing violation dubbed “smurfing.” Unbeknownst to the “donors,” Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports show in some cases tens of thousands of small dollar donations being made in their names, totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. One example in Wisconsin detailed five “smurfs” making a combined total of 28,471 donations, worth $401,326. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., was a recipient of 531 of those donations, worth $5,147. No wonder Democrats report a resounding lead in small dollar donations!

My Senate staff has been pressuring the FEC to investigate these violations, but the FEC won’t even acknowledge whether they are investigating. Republican attorneys general such as Jason Miyares in Virginia have thankfully launched concurrent investigations to demand answers and stop this unfair practice.

Free Expression

AP News: On the first day without X, many Brazilians say they feel disconnected from the world

By Gabriela Sá Pessoa

.....The shutdown of Elon Musk’s platform started early Saturday, making it largely inaccessible on both the web and through mobile apps after the billionaire refused to name a legal representative to the country, missing a deadline imposed by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The blockade marks an escalation in a monthslong feud between Musk and de Moraes over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation.

Brazil is one of the biggest markets for X, with tens of millions of users.

“I’ve got the feeling that I have no idea what’s happening in the world right now. Bizarre,” entertainment writer and heavy X user Chico Barney wrote on Threads. Threads is a text-based app developed by Instagram that Barney was using as an alternative. “This Threads algorithm is like an all-you-can-eat restaurant where the waiter keeps serving things I would never order.”

Racket News: Come to My Speech in Defense of the First Amendment in Washington on Sunday, September 29th: "Rescue the Republic"

By Matt Taibbi

.....I hesitated when asked last month to participate in the “Rescue the Republic” event. The idea was a lineup of politicians, comedians, scientists, and media figures to speak against the “industrial complex assault” against various enlightenment principles: informed consent, presumption of innocence, academic freedom, truth-seeking, and open dialogue, among other things. Amid gifted professional talkers like Russell Brand and Jimmy Dore and politicians who are smooth and experienced at the stump like Tulsi Gabbard, I’d drag the program down.

However, the opportunity to speak on free speech in the shadow of the Washington monument, at this fraught moment, was too great to pass up. Writers by nature are hiders. We spend our lives alone, in cell-like rooms, thinking of ways to release thoughts and feelings in cautious little pieces. Most of us would trade whole careers for one Van Halen solo. But I feel so strongly about the First Amendment, and have such a unique experience as an American who discovered its transformative power living abroad, that I feel obligated to become a speaker in its defense.

Attorney Floyd Abrams said: “The First Amendment is the rock star of the Constitution.”

David Heinemeier Hansson: Free speech isn't guaranteed to be forever

.....I'm old enough to remember when it was the left of the west that carried the banner of free speech. That defended lurid and violent rap music, first-person shooter video games, raging against the machine, exposing big pharma, protesting wars of all kinds. The counter culture, the dissidents, the live-and-let-live ethos of free expression, and the "that's like just your opinion, maaaan".

I remember learning about the ACLU's Jewish attorneys suing the government for the right of neo-Nazis in 1977 to march the streets of Skokie, Illinois. Men of principle, defending the right of their sworn enemies to exercise constitutional freedoms, such that that right might protect causes they believed in at a later day.

That long stretch of peaceful rule and commitment to protecting free speech seems to have evaporated from much of the left today. In its place, we have the fig leaves of "misinformation" and "hate speech" failing to adequately cover the naked persecution of political adversaries. A fun-house mirror version of the right's old "won't somebody please think of the children" go-to argument for curbing free speech.

Candidates and Campaigns

NBC 10: Fake ads in Philly falsely claim the Eagles are endorsing Kamala Harris

By Hayden Mitman and David Chang 

.....New ads have appeared around Philadelphia that claim Vice President Kamala Harris is the "official candidate of the Philadelphia Eagles."

The team told NBC10 that the ads are counterfeit and they are working to have the ads removed.

The ads show a sideview of a drawing of a person who is, presumably, Harris, holding a football and wearing an Eagles helmet along with the name, "Kamala" in big, bold letters.

The ads also link to Philadelphiaeagles.com/vote -- which is a real site that the team has set up to help provide nonpartisan information to allow people to know how to register to vote and learn more about upcoming elections.

Washington Post: Kamala Harris should release the names of her ‘bundlers’

By Ruth Marcus

.....Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign raised $540 million in just over a month. Good for her. Now Harris should do the right thing — what previous Democratic nominees have done, and what Harris did during her primary campaign in 2019 — and release the names of her “bundlers.”

The States

Los Angeles Times: California is racing to combat deepfakes ahead of the election

By Queenie Wong

.....On Friday, California lawmakers gave final approval to a bill that would prohibit the distribution of deceptive campaign ads or “election communication” within 120 days of an election. Assembly Bill 2839 targets manipulated content that would harm a candidate’s reputation or electoral prospects along with confidence in an election’s outcome. It’s meant to address videos like the one Musk shared of Harris, though it includes an exception for parody and satire…

Newsom has signaled he will sign the bill, which would take effect immediately, in time for the November election.

New York Post: Ex-NJ Gov. Jim McGreevey’s ethics challenged over billboards, civic programs

By Chris Harris

.....Former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey’s campaign ethics are being questioned by local pols who suggest he’s exploiting the two non-profits he runs to promote his run for Jersey City mayor.

Billboards featuring either McGreevey’s name or face have been popping up around Jersey City since early December, and have become a popular topic of discussion with state Democrats, who suggest the ads may violate campaign finance laws.

Billboards for the Jackie and Ronnie McGreevey Civic Assoc. went up just before Christmas, featuring a picture of McGreevey and his daughter, Jacqueline.

Florida Politics: Voters weigh whether to end public campaign finance program

By Ryan Nicol

.....Voters will soon get their say on the fate of Florida’s public campaign financing program after lawmakers approved a measure earlier this year putting the question on the November ballot.

During the 2024 Session, Sen. Travis Hutson sponsored a resolution (SJR 1114) to end the program, which he says is getting too costly and sapping funds that could be used elsewhere. That language will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot under Amendment 6.