September 27, 2024

New from the Institute for Free Speech

Seattle University Law Review Publishes Knowles-Gardner Article about Historic NAACP Litigation on First Amendment Day

.....On September 25, 1789, the First Congress of the United States proposed the First Amendment to the Constitution. As the nation’s largest organization dedicated solely to protecting political speech, press, assembly, and petition rights, we are happy to see this touchstone of democracy commemorated by recognizing September 25 as First Amendment Day.

This First Amendment Day, Seattle University Law Review published an important article from Institute for Free Speech Research Director Helen Knowles-Gardner. Titled, “The First Amendment to the Constitution, Associational Freedom, and the Future of the Country: Alabama’s Direct Attack on the Existence of the NAACP,” the article challenges the assertion that the 1958 decision in NAACP v. Alabama ex rel. Patterson was an "indirect" effort to control the NAACP…

Knowles-Gardner’s piece is the lead article in the issue…

This is the first of two articles authored by Knowles-Gardner about the NAACP litigation. The Journal of Supreme Court History is publishing another installment of her NAACP research in November.

The Courts

Courthouse News: Tulsa police officer fired over old social media posts asks 10th Circuit to revive free speech suit

By Amanda Pampuro

.....A former police officer asked the 10th Circuit on Thursday for another chance at bringing First Amendment claims against the city of Tulsa after he was fired in 2019 for three Facebook posts published several years before he was hired.

The posts, which were uncovered and circulated by a local activist, included a picture of Donald Trump riding a lion and flying a Confederate flag; a skull and crosshairs icon popularized by American sniper Chris Kyle juxtaposed with a “Blue Lives Matter” flag; and a photo of the American flag superimposed with the words “I will fight to my last breath before I submit to Islam.”

Wayne Brown, who began working for Tulsa as a police officer in October 2018, was fired over the posts in September 2019 — a month after he completed training. He sued the city that December.

KFOX 14: Colorado school employee fired after calling US 'greatest country,' lawsuit says

By Jackson Walker

.....Legal group America First Legal on Thursday announced it is suing a Colorado school district for retaliating against an employee who expressed views about the U.S. during a diversity training.

The Cherry Creek School District allegedly violated the employee’s First Amendment rights when it “pressured him to embrace race-based ideologies” through a required diversity training. The employee during that training allegedly responded to a question about being White by saying he "identifies as an American who believes the U.S. is the greatest country in the world."

Carolina Journal: Libertarian challenging NC ballot selfie ban makes final pitch before Oct. 7 hearing

.....The Libertarian voter challenging North Carolina’s ban on ballot selfies in federal court filed her final brief before an Oct. 7 hearing. Susan Hogarth argues that the ban violates her constitutional rights.

Hogarth is asking US District Judge Louise Wood Flanagan to issue an injunction blocking the ban. Flanagan will consider the injunction request during the hearing next month in New Bern.

“Ballot selfies combine two cherished American freedoms — voting and political expression,” according to a brief Hogarth’s lawyers filed Tuesday. “As the First Circuit and several district courts have held, ballot selfies are core political speech that the State cannot ban without supplying concrete evidence of their harm to compelling state interests.”

Washington Post: Russian propagandists have First Amendment rights, too

By Erik Wemple

.....As reprehensible as these influencers are, as baleful as Russian propaganda operations are and as vulnerable as the U.S. political system is, it’s helpful to remember: The RT indictment involves the deployment of the U.S. government’s investigative powers in treacherously close proximity to First Amendment freedoms. That proximity carries a risk of nudging us all closer to accepting the application of state power to curb political speech…

Juicy as the RT details might be, they come from a questionable legal footing. As Nick Robinson argued in the Duke Law Journal, FARA is an overly broad statute that can lead to the punishment of “dissenting or controversial views.” The law, notes Robinson, was invoked in 1951 against legendary civil rights leader W.E.B. Du Bois, who had helped form a group, the Peace Information Center, that had circulated the Stockholm Appeal to ban nuclear weapons. At trial, the government argued that Du Bois and his cohort didn’t even need to be acting at the behest of a foreign agent — just that they were working to “disseminate information in the United States, propaganda for and on behalf of” the foreign agent. This attempt at thought control ended in a judge’s ruling to dismiss the case, though it “ruined” Du Bois’s reputation. (It has, of course, recovered.)

Bloomberg Law: NYC Mayor Was Corrupt for Years, US Claims in Scathing Case

By Bob Van Voris, Laura Nahmias, and Patricia Hurtado

.....New York City Mayor Eric Adams engaged in years of sustained corruption, accepting more than $100,000 in lavish bribes from foreign nationals, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan claimed in a scalding indictment…

Adams is accused of exploiting New York City’s unusually generous public matching funds program, which provides $8 in public funds for every $1 raised by donors from New York City, up to a maximum of $250 for candidates seeking citywide office. The indictment alleges that Adams’ campaign applied for those funds based on straw donations, receiving as much as $2,000 in funds for each contribution.

In all, his mayoral campaign received more than $10 million in public funds.

Prosecutors said Adams “repeatedly took steps to shield the solicitation and acceptance of these benefits” and failed to disclose them in his annual financial disclosures, as required for a New York City employee.

FEC

Washington Examiner: Hackers targeted FEC, prompting preelection ‘threat hunt’

By Paul Bedard

.....Hackers targeted the Federal Election Commission earlier this year, prompting the agency to move swiftly to revamp its website and launch a “threat hunt” just weeks before the 2024 election.

Secrets learned this week that the Department of Homeland Security told FEC officials in April that they had detected evidence that unknown sources were trying to sell FEC data taken from its online system.

The good news for the FEC is that what was apparently being peddled was “public” information, such as the reports from campaigns about donors and FEC decision papers.

The bad news is that the hacker remains unknown. Worse, officials can’t determine if there was an actual hack and, if there was, how deep it went.

Free Expression

UChicago News: $100 million gift will advance UChicago’s commitment to free expression

.....In recognition of its historic commitment to free inquiry and expression, the University of Chicago has received a $100 million gift from an anonymous donor to support UChicago’s leadership on the principles and practice of free expression, and to advance the work of the University of Chicago Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression—both on campus and beyond.

Launched by President Paul Alivisatos in 2023, the Chicago Forum’s mission is to promote the understanding, practice, and advancement of free and open discourse at UChicago and around the world. Through events and initiatives, the Chicago Forum brings together students, faculty, higher education leaders, and a diverse range of guests to discuss challenges of free inquiry and expression—and put those values into practice.

Online Speech Platforms

The Hill: Journalist booted from X after publishing hacked Vance document

By Julia Shapero

.....Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein was suspended Thursday from the social platform X after sharing materials about Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) that were allegedly obtained in an Iranian hack on former President Trump’s campaign. 

Klippenstein published the 271-page report compiled by the Trump campaign to vet Vance, now the Republican nominee’s running mate, on his Substack. 

An X spokesperson said in a statement that the journalist’s account was suspended for posting “unredacted private personal information” about Vance. 

“Ken Klippenstein was temporarily suspended for violating our rules on posting unredacted private personal information, specifically Sen. Vance’s physical addresses and the majority of his Social Security number,” the spokesperson said. 

New York Post: Google is biased in favor of Democrats ahead of 2024 election

By Dan Schneider and Gabriela Pariseau

.....While Congressional Republicans were hammering Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey for censoring conservatives on their platforms, Google’s executives sat back smugly, confident that their obscene censorship schemes went undetected.

But our organization, the Media Research Center, and others have shown that Google is the most effective weapon in the left’s arsenal — the one that gets its candidates across the finish line.

In the last presidential election, Google swayed anywhere from six to eight million votes in favor of Joe Biden.

MRC’s studies over a 12-month period consistently showed that Google completely buried Republican campaign websites in favor of their Democrat opponents.

During the presidential primary contests, MRC conducted studies searching for the campaign websites for both Democrats and Republicans.

Not surprisingly, when MRC searched for “democrat presidential campaign websites,” Biden’s campaign site was always the first or second search result.

But the results were very different when searching for the Republican campaign websites.

Candidates and Campaigns

Bloomberg Law: Trump's Law Firm Backers Stay Quiet to Protect Their Practices

By Tatyana Monnay

.....Some corporate lawyers who support former President Donald Trump in the election are doing so quietly for fear of ticking off clients.

One mid-size law firm leader who gave five-figure donations to a Trump and a Republican campaign committee this year aims to keep that backing private in the workplace...

Lawyers worry about being penalized for “mere association” with Trump, whether by working for him or supporting him, said George Terwilliger, a former partner at McGuireWoods. Such Trump work or support shouldn’t count against these lawyers, he said.

“I see this erosion of detachment from politics in the legal profession,” said Terwilliger, who was appointed to Justice Department roles under Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. “It’s like the tide that’s lapping at the pillars that are under these houses that are too close to the beach. Eventually, the tide is going to come all the way in and we’re going to lose a very critical substructure of our legal profession.”

The States

Center Square Michigan: Michigan bill aims to crack down on dark money

By Thérèse Boudreaux

.....The Michigan House has passed legislation that would make campaign finance violations easier to address as they happen, part of a larger package of bills to improve accountability and fiscal transparency in the state’s government.

HB 5583 would amend the Michigan Campaign Finance Act to allow the secretary of state to seek immediate court injunctions against campaign finance violations, rather than go through the current months-long court process.

Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): N.J. S. Ct. Will Decide Whether Journalist May Publish Police Chief's Home Address

By Eugene Volokh

.....The N.J. intermediate appellate court held such publication wasn't protected by the First Amendment law; the state high court just agreed to reconsider that. The question presented is,

“Is Daniel's Law, N.J.S.A. 56:8-166.1 and N.J.S.A. 2C:20-31.1, which prohibits disclosing the home addresses of certain public officials, including judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement personnel, unconstitutional as applied to plaintiff?”

Here's an excerpt of the lower court opinion, Kratovil v. City of New Brunswick: