January 16, 2025

In the News

Iowa Politics with Laura Belin: Kicking off the Iowa legislature's 2025 session

.....Monday was an exciting day for members of the Iowa House and Senate, and also for me. Although I’ve closely followed legislative happening since the early months of Bleeding Heartland’s existence in 2007, this was the first time I was able to watch the opening proceedings from the Iowa House press bench. The Institute for Free Speech filed a federal lawsuit on my behalf a couple of weeks into the 2024 session, so I didn’t receive credentials to sit in the media area until late January.

New from the Institute for Free Speech

Free Speech Arguments – Can Texas Force Adults to Verify Their Age Before Visiting Adult Websites? (Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton)

.....Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton, argued before the Supreme Court of the United States on January 15, 2025. Argued by Derek L. Shaffer (on behalf of Free Speech Coalition, et al.), Brian H. Fletcher, Deputy Solicitor General of the United States (on behalf of the United States as amicus curiae), and Aaron Nielson, Solicitor General of Texas (on behalf of Ken Paxton).

Background on the case, excerpted from the introduction of the Brief for Petitioners:

Supreme Court

SCOTUSblog: Supreme Court divided on Texas age-verification law for porn sites

By Amy Howe

.....The Supreme Court on Wednesday was divided over a challenge to a Texas law that requires pornography sites to verify the age of their users before providing access. Last year a federal appeals court in New Orleans allowed the state to enforce the law, holding that it was rationally related to the government’s interest in preventing young people from viewing porn.

After more than two hours of debate on Wednesday, it was not clear whether a majority of the justices were ready to uphold the lower court’s ruling. Some justices seemed to agree with the challengers, led by a trade group for the adult entertainment industry, that a federal appeals court in New Orleans should have applied a more stringent test to determine whether the law violates the First Amendment. But even that ruling might prove to be only a limited victory for the challengers in the short term.

Independent Groups and Nonprofits

Cato Daily Podcast: “Dark Money” and Election Outcomes

By Hosted by Caleb O. Brown

.....Will spending by ‘dark money’ groups face more restrictions from Congress? Luke Wachob of People United for Privacy believes it may depend on how politically threatened incumbents feel by that kind of speech.

New York Post: Stacey Abrams’ nonprofit hit with largest fine in state history for illegally using funds to support her 2018 bid for governor

By Ryan King

.....A voter registration nonprofit founded by former Georgia state Rep. Stacey Abrams secretly boosted her 2018 gubernatorial bid in violation of campaign finance law and was slapped with a $300,000 fine Wednesday.

The New Georgia Project and its action fund fessed up spending $3.2 million to foot the bill for canvassers and fliers supporting Abrams, 51, and others without disclosing those contributions. It agreed to pay the fine from Georgia’s ethics commission.

“We are glad to finally put this matter behind us so the New Georgia Project can fully devote its time and attention to its efforts to civically engage and register black, brown, and young voters in Georgia,” Aria Branch, counsel to the nonprofit, told The Post in a statement.

“We accept this outcome and are eager to turn the page on activities that took place more than five years ago.”

New Georgia Project also neglected to register as an independent campaign committee in a breach of state law. In total, there were at least 16 instances of infractions, the ethics panel concluded.

Online Speech Platforms

Washington Post: Trump considers executive order hoping to ‘save TikTok’ from ban or sale in U.S. law

By Drew Harwell and Elizabeth Dwoskin

.....President-elect Donald Trump is considering an executive order once in office that would suspend enforcement of the TikTok ban-or-sale law for 60 to 90 days, buying the administration time to negotiate a sale or alternative solution — a legally questionable effort to win a brief reprieve for the Chinese-owned app now scheduled to be banned on Sunday nationwide.

New York Times: TikTok C.E.O. Plans to Attend Trump Inauguration

By Maggie Haberman and Sapna Maheshwari

.....The chief executive of TikTok plans to attend President-elect Donald J. Trump’s inauguration and has been invited to sit in a position of honor on the dais, where former presidents, family members and other important guests traditionally are seated, two people familiar with the plans said on Wednesday.

The States

Idaho Press: After major spending in 2024 elections, updates to Idaho's Sunshine laws are in the works

By Laura Guido

.....An unprecedented year of campaign spending has led some officials to consider amendments to Idaho’s campaign finance laws in an effort to make it easier to track electioneering messaging…

McGrane and Moyle haven’t yet agreed on the specifics of the bill that will be brought forward, but both men want more frequent reporting and increased visibility...

Idaho law requires any entity spending more than $100 on electioneering communications to file a report to the secretary of state. Independent expenditures are required to be reported by seven days prior to the election and within 30 days after the election, according to state code.

There are expedited requirements for expenditures of $1,000 or more, but only within the period of less than 16 days prior to the election but more than 48 hours before.

“With these odd arrangements of dates and what is required to report and what’s not, and some people have figured that out and they use the windows to steer their messaging,” McGrane said.

Kansas Reflector: Kansas House panel asked to reform commission with oversight of campaign-finance laws

By Tim Carpenter

.....A lawyer representing politically active clients dealing with campaign-finance disputes at the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission wants the 2025 Legislature to declaw the agency because it allegedly took a hammer to free-speech rights through enforcement of “Keystone Cop” procedures.

Joshua Ney, who has tangled with the KGEC for years, bluntly implored the Republican-led House Elections Committee to follow reforms adopted in 2023 with a new set of changes to rid the process of the commission’s misinterpretation and misapplication of state law. He complained that unconstitutionally vague statutes were left open to distortion by commission staff, including KGEC executive director Mark Skoglund.

“Be careful how much power you give this commission,” Ney said. “They have chosen the last several years to use a sledgehammer in a lot of these things instead of a scalpel. There is something structurally broken.”

Courthouse News: Texas argues at state Supreme Court to revive attempt to shut down migrant aid nonprofit

By Kirk McDaniel /

.....Texas claimed Monday to the state Supreme Court that a Catholic migrant organization has harmed the state, in its argument to reinstate a subpoena served on the organization as part of an attempt to shut it down via accusations that it harbors migrants who illegally entered the state. 

“Governor Abbott has proclaimed a disaster at the southern border, and he has recognized that nongovernmental organizations have regrettably worsened that disaster,” said attorney Ryan Baasch, representing the state. “The main question in this case is what the attorney general can do about it.”

Annunciation House is an organization that provides hospitality services to the poor and immigrants, primarily from Mexico and Central America, with a mission largely guided and inspired by their Catholic faith. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sought to serve a subpoena aimed at examining the shelter and its documents in February 2024.

The Hill: Nebraska governor proposes social media restrictions for minors

By Ashleigh Fields

.....Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (R) urged state lawmakers to support a new bill that would require parental consent for children looking to create social media accounts during a Monday news conference.

“These bills will address the addictive nature of social media, prohibit the generation of [artificial intelligence] child pornography, restrict the use of phones and electronic devices in schools and require parental consent for minors to set up social media accounts,” Pillen said, referencing the proposed Parental Rights in Social Media Act.

Idaho Statesman via MSN: No Pride flags allowed: Idaho proposal would ban many displays in public school classrooms

By Ian Max Stevenson 

.....Many flags for ideological causes would be banned in public schools under a proposed Idaho law, in addition to those for LGBTQ+ Pride and political parties.

Rep. Ted Hill, R-Eagle, introduced House Bill 10 on Tuesday to ban most flags in state-funded public classrooms.

Teachers could still display the U.S. flag, state flags, flags of many foreign countries and some others, according to a list of more than a dozen examples included in the bill. But it would prohibit any that “represent a political viewpoint, including but not limited to flags or banners regarding a political party, race, sexual orientation, gender, or a political ideology.”

An identical version of the bill failed to make it through the Legislature last year. It passed in the Senate but was held in the House Education Committee.