Email from The Institute for Free Speech The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech December 13, 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 Mother Jones: The Bipartisan Bill Fighting Trump’s Attempts to Silence Critics By Sophie Hurwitz .....The coalition pushing the bipartisan bill includes organizations that often stand in opposition to one another: corporate accountability organizations are listed next to the Institute for Free Speech, which is well-known for promoting unlimited corporate spending in politics. David Keating, of the Institute for Free Speech, said that’s because “ they all know somebody or some organization that’s had to deal with these kind of frivolous lawsuits trying to shut people down.” On the state level, anti-SLAPP laws often pass near-unanimously. And, Keating said, about 60 percent of the US population is now covered by such a law. But people bringing these suits, he added, often do so in federal court. “Because a lot of the speech is on the internet they can try to claim that this is not a dispute between two people that are in the same state,” he said. NonDoc: KFOR lawsuit: Settlement avoids trial, prohibits Ryan Walters from blocking journalist access By Sasha Ndisabiye and Tres Savage .....After more than an hour of private discussions behind U.S. District Judge Bernard Jones’ courtroom, attorneys for State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters and KFOR struck an agreement this morning to settle a lawsuit alleging that Walters violated First Amendment protections by singling out and prohibiting Channel 4 journalists from accessing public meetings and press conferences. As part of the settlement, the Oklahoma State Department of Education must pay $17.91 in damages to KFOR — a numerical reference to 1791, the year the Bill of Rights and its First Amendment were ratified in America. “This is a huge victory for journalism,” Institute for Free Speech attorney Charles Miller told reporters outside the courthouse. “What happened today is the state school board superintendent decided that rather than go to trial and face that, they would grant KFOR everything that it was asking for in the case. It’s very clear that the defendants all along admitted it that they were doing this because they did not like what KFOR was reporting.” New from the Institute for Free Speech Lawsuit Challenges Maine Limit on Political Speech .....A new federal lawsuit seeks to stop a 2024 ballot initiative from placing blatantly unconstitutional limits on Mainers’ free speech rights. Attorneys from the Institute for Free Speech and local counsel Joshua D. Dunlap of Pierce Atwood LLP filed a federal lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine on behalf of Dinner Table Action and For Our Future, two Maine political action committees (PACs), and Alex Titcomb, who leads both PACs. The suit challenges Maine’s newly enacted restrictions on contributions to independent expenditure groups, sometimes called “Super PACs.” The lawsuit also challenges unconstitutional requirements that force the disclosure of all donors who contribute toward independent expenditures, regardless of amount. Question 1, passed by voters last month, imposes a $5,000 limit on contributions to such groups. The measure—also known as the “Act to Limit Contributions to Political Action Committees That Make Independent Expenditures”—directly contradicts established U.S. Supreme Court precedent, as well as numerous subsequent decisions by multiple federal courts of appeal. Thirty federal appellate judges have considered such limits, and all 30 reached the same conclusion: contribution limits cannot be applied to independent expenditure groups. FEC Washington Examiner: FEC grows swampier with fourth chairmanship for Democrat Weintraub By Paul Bedard .....The Federal Election Commission on Thursday elected Democrat Ellen Weintraub its new chief, making her a four-time chair for the agency she has been criticized for politicizing. In its 4-1 vote, the FEC elevated Weintraub from vice chairwoman, also a position she has held before. She was initially named to the elections watchdog in 2002 and her term expired in 2007, but she has never been replaced. Chairs serve one-year terms. She has led the agency’s liberal wing for years in criticizing Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump. Unless Trump, in his second administration, moves to name a replacement, Weintraub is on a path to becoming the longest-serving FEC commissioner ever. Another Democrat, Danny McDonald, was a commissioner for nearly 25 years and also was its chairman four times. Trump has promised to “drain the swamp” and his incoming White House counsel, David Warrington, is a noted elections lawyer who may push his boss to replace Weintraub. In 2019, when Weintraub criticized Trump, Warrington was the head of the Republican National Lawyers Association, and he hit her attack on Trump. He said, “If she wants to be a political activist, she should immediately resign and join the democratic process rather than try to control it or remake it according to her own whims from her perch at the FEC.” FTC Bloomberg Law: Trump FTC Pick Wants to Avoid AI Crackdown, Target 'Censorship' By Justin Wise and Tonya Riley .....President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run the Federal Trade Commission wants to zero in on alleged censorship by Big Tech and promote innovation in the AI market—offering competing enforcement priorities for the agency’s tech policy. Andrew Ferguson, whom Trump on Tuesday named as his FTC chair pick, has since April been a Republican member of the commission, where he’s aligned with the Biden administration in terms of its broader focus on tech—while differing in his priorities. In a statement Tuesday night, Ferguson vowed to “end Big Tech’s vendetta against competition and free speech.” He’s also preached caution with respect to regulating artificial intelligence. In September, he criticized the FTC’s call for comprehensive AI legislation, saying a regulatory response at this early stage could squelch innovation in the US tech sector. FEMA Daily Wire: Exclusive: America First Legal Takes Aim At FEMA Over ‘Egregious’ First Amendment Violations By Leif Le Mahieu .....America First Legal on Wednesday launched an investigation into FEMA over guidance from an employee for relief workers in Florida to “avoid homes advertising Trump,” according to letters first shared with The Daily Wire. The conservative legal firm filed a Freedom of Information request demanding FEMA turn over records and communications involving fired FEMA supervisor Marn’i Washington, who instructed workers responding in Lake Placid, Florida to pass over homes with Trump flags or signs. America First Legal, citing reporting from The Daily Wire, also requested that Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari open up a full investigation into the allegations of relief aid being withheld for political reasons.  The States Wall Street Journal: UC Riverside’s DEI Guardians Came After Me By Perry Link .....Kim Wilcox, chancellor at University of California, Riverside, wrote me a letter of censure on Aug. 16. I was, in the administration’s view, guilty of “discrimination” against “individuals seeking employment.” I had made “unwarranted comments” about race. Mr. Wilcox based his claim largely on the following statement, which I had written to colleagues on a faculty search committee in December 2022: “[Candidate X] is lively and charming—and yes, Black, which is great—but I can’t say that I found his sophistication and experience up to the level of our top candidates.” I expressed my worry that some of my colleagues would, as they had in the past, make the applicant’s race their “overriding criterion.” The committee’s unofficial diversity, equity and inclusion guardian, Heidi Brevik-Zender, had proposed that we boost this black applicant ahead of several others and place him on our shortlist. My comments came in response to this boosting. Someone then reported them to deans and vice provosts without notice to me, triggering a university discipline machine that couldn’t be stopped. New York Daily News: Eric Adams must not get campaign matching funds By Susan Lerner .....In September, federal prosecutors indicted Mayor Adams on several charges that included defrauding the city’s generous campaign finance system, from which his 2021 campaign received $10 million. Adams has denied the allegations and will likely stand trial in April, but in the meantime he’s seeking more public financing for his reelection bid. Given his extensive pattern of withholding information and the seriousness of the allegations against him, the Campaign Finance Board should refuse any new public funds to his campaign until Adams is cleared of wrongdoing. Like everyone facing criminal charges, Adams is entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. His trial will allow jurors to decide that question while voters get to decide his political future. But public matching funds are a different issue. Thanks to a program introduced in 1988, NYC candidates can receive an 8-to-1 match for any small-dollar contribution up to $250. The program sets a maximum amount that participating campaigns can spend on their race, and limits on how they can spend that money. Idaho Statesman: Decision in millionaire’s defamation case underlines why Idaho needs anti-SLAPP laws By Bryan Clark .....Idaho needs a law to prevent frivolous defamation suits from being abused by the wealthy to silence those who disagree with them. This has been clear for years, though the Legislature failed to pass legislation aimed at stopping it. Lawmakers should fix that omission this year by passing a law aimed at curbing so-called Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, or SLAPP suits. Anti-SLAPP laws allow frivolous defamation suits to be dismissed early in the process, so that a wealthy plaintiff can’t use the threat of drawn-out, expensive litigation to silence critics. A district judge recently attempted to apply anti-SLAPP logic to dismiss a case brought by Michael Boren, the wealthy co-founder of Clearwater Analytics, over statements made by several individuals about an airstrip on his land in the Sawtooths. But the Idaho Supreme Court, with good reason, was not prepared to allow a judge to do the work the Legislature should, and reversed that decision this week. Read an article you think we would be interested in? Send it to Tiffany Donnelly at [email protected]. For email filters, the subject of this email will always begin with "Institute for Free Speech Media Update." The Institute for Free Speech is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that promotes and defends the political rights to free speech, press, assembly, and petition guaranteed by the First Amendment. Please support the Institute's mission by clicking here. For further information, visit www.ifs.org. 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