December 2, 2024

In the News

New York Times: A Culture-War Battle Convulses a School Panel in Liberal Manhattan

By Claire Fahy

.....In June, David C. Banks, then the schools chancellor, removed Ms. Maron from the council after she criticized a pro-Palestinian opinion essay in a student newspaper and called its anonymous author a “coward.”

But three months later, following a successful court appeal, she was back — as were the relentless arguments over her resolution. And, as it turned out, over every other resolution, too.

Ed. note: The Institute for Free Speech represented Ms. Maron in her lawsuit challenging unconstitutional speech policies. Read more about our victory here.

The Courts

Bloomberg Law: School Workers Get Second Shot on Anti-Racism Free-Speech Appeal

By Patrick Dorrian

.....The Eighth Circuit Wednesday agreed to rehear an appeal by two Missouri school workers who claim job training they received forced them to support anti-racism theories, in violation of their First Amendment rights.

The grant of Brooke Henderson and Jennifer Lumley’s petition for rehearing means the full court will now entertain their appeal and that a Sept. 13 ruling by a three-judge panel affirming the dismissal of the Springfield Public School District workers’ lawsuit is vacated.

Attorneys familiar with what the appeals panel said appears in some ways to be an unprecedented case believe a ruling could provide clarity for ...

Bloomberg Law: Rhode Island Agency Fails to Shed Free Speech Ad Suit

By Beth Wang

.....Rhode Island’s public transit agency may have violated the First Amendment when it refused to allow an advertisement from a medical organization to be placed on buses and at bus shelters, a federal judge ruled.

Rhode Island Public Transit Authority may have “inconsistently enforced its” advertisement policy when it approved a 2020 ad from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine but rejected a similar ad in 2024, Chief Judge John McConnell, Jr. of the US District Court for the District of Rhode Island said Wednesday.

McConnell rejected the transit agency’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, saying Physicians Committee “plausibly alleged” ...

Daily Wire: Exclusive: Rumble Sues California For ‘Censorship’ Over Laws Restricting User Speech

By Mary Margaret Olohan

.....Rumble is suing California for allegedly forcing the social media platform to alter its own speech and censor its users’ speech, according to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by The Daily Wire.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division. Rumble is challenging California’s latest laws punishing speakers for certain political commentary, which California Governor Gavin Newsom has framed as measures that will combat the “harmful use of deepfakes in political ads and other content.”

Kansas City Star: Teacher sued Independence School District for free speech violations and won

By Toriano Porter

.....Jason Vollmecke of Independence is $2 richer. But no dollar amount could underscore what this former candidate for Independence School District Board of Education has endured. In October, a federal civil rights lawsuit Vollmecke filed last year against Superintendent Dale Herl and the Independence school board was settled. In addition to compensatory damages — $1 for each of two claims he won — Vollmecke was also awarded $77,000 to cover legal costs, according to court documents…

In a summary judgment ruling agreed to by both parties, U.S. District Court Judge Beth Phillips found the district violated Vollmecke’s First Amendment right to free speech by banning him from district property for a year. Phillips also ruled district officials violated Vollmecke’s due process rights because he was not afforded a legitimate opportunity to appeal the ban, court records indicate.

Congress

Washington Post: I’m done with Democratic purity tests

By Seth Moulton

.....Until not so long ago, we were the party of free speech. We welcomed real, rigorous debate when orthodox conservatives in the Republican Party were afraid of change…

Independents and Republicans see what we do to fellow Democrats who disagree with the party line. Why would they think they’d have a prayer with us?

Politico: Liberals should not quit Elon Musk’s X, leading US lawmaker says

By Peter Snowdon and Anne McElvoy

.....“I think that everything he has said publicly is he believes in free and open speech, and we need to have more platforms. Now, I don’t think X should be the only platform,” Khanna told Anne McElvoy for POLITICO’s Power Play podcast. “Not only do I stay, I use it all the time … I don’t think that the answer for progressives is to disengage.” 

“Now we have the distortion of the public sphere with moneyed interests and with digital spaces that aren’t equal for everyone to participate. And what we ought to be focused on is how do we create more town hall-like places for conversation online.”

On the subject of regulation, Khanna said he was not in favor of the U.S. adopting Australia-style measures to ban social media for people under 16 years of age. He said the U.S. already has safeguards in place.

“We have a more robust tradition of free speech, and if someone’s 15 and wants to speak out about Palestinian rights or LGTBQ rights or Black Lives Matter and wants to be online, I don’t think we should just blanket-restrict that person’s speech. I think that there are other ways to get about it.”

Trump Administration

Wall Street Journal: Kash Patel, the FBI and Retribution

By The Editorial Board

.....The FBI’s abuses under Mr. Comey were the worst since J. Edgar Hoover. As documented by the Justice Department inspector general and special counsel John Durham, officials lied to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to get a warrant against Trump campaign official Carter Page. They also lied about the disinformation in the Steele dossier, which was financed by the Hillary Clinton campaign…

It no doubt infuriates those who promoted the Russia collusion narrative to see Mr. Patel nominated to run the FBI, but abusing institutions for political purposes inevitably creates a demand for potential payback. The apologists for the Comey FBI and the Russia collusion narrative made a director Patel possible.

That doesn’t mean Republican Senators should rubber stamp this nomination.

Wall Street Journal: The Conservative Case for Public Broadcasting

By Howard Husock

.....I yield to no one in my anger at the liberal bias of NPR and PBS. Their story selection and tone make their views obvious. As a member of the CPB board, 2013-17, I was ostracized by my colleagues for publishing an op-ed arguing for ideological diversity. They stripped me of my committee assignments and accused me of violating my fiduciary duties.

Nonetheless, if the reformers eliminate the public broadcasting budget, I’m concerned about what might come next. That isn’t because of love for Big Bird, who took flight to HBO long ago. It’s because DOGE can’t actually kill NPR and PBS. Liberal financial backers will swoop in with support, allowing them to continue to spread progressive propaganda masquerading as news. What will change is that they’ll do it without accountability to Congress.

The States

San Francisco Chronicle: California officials quietly set aside law on deceptive election content

By Bob Egelko

.....After a federal judge blocked enforcement of a California law allowing political candidates targeted by deepfake ads to sue for damages, state officials have quietly postponed enforcement of a related law that would require large online platforms to block the posting of deceptive content about candidates in the last 120 days before an election.

Minnesota Star Tribune: Lobbying ban proposal for former Minnesota legislators to resurface in 2025

By Rochelle Olson

.....Sen. Matt Klein, DFL-Mendota Heights, wants to slow down the revolving door by creating a cooling off period of two years.

The senator said he was struck in early 2023 by the number of former legislators who showed up as lobbyists when the DFL took control of the Senate, the House and the governor’s office.

The bill he plans to introduce in January would prohibit former legislators from acting or registering as a lobbyist for two years after leaving office. The bill would impose a civil fine of $25,000 or the former legislator’s payment as a salary — whichever is less.

Boston Globe: Citizens United isn’t going away any time soon. But we can still make campaign financing less corrupt.

By Ro Khanna and Lawrence Lessig

.....Why should the state also have the power to limit contributions when there is no proof of a quid pro quo? The Supreme Court has directly addressed this question, in the foundational case for modern campaign finance law, Buckley v. Valeo (1976), which is still the law of the land. As the court stated then, bribery laws “deal with only the most blatant and specific attempts of those with money to influence governmental action.” Congress, it added, was within its rights to impose contribution ceilings “to deal with the reality or appearance of corruption inherent in a system permitting unlimited financial contributions.”

Maine voters may have given the Supreme Court a chance to correct the super PAC mistake. In November, voters overwhelmingly approved an initiative that would limit contributions to independent political action committees. If that measure is challenged and reaches the Supreme Court, the court will have an extraordinary opportunity to demonstrate to America that it can apply its principles consistently.

Restricting contributions to super PACs won’t end the corrupting dependence on money in American politics. But it would be the most important first step in a generation.