Email from The Institute for Free Speech The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech March 11, 2025 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 Campaigns & Elections: Lawsuit Challenges Reporting Requirements for Conduit PACs By Max Greenwood .....A new lawsuit is challenging the requirement that conduit PACs disclose the personal details of small-dollar donors in their filings with the Federal Election Commission. The complaint, filed in the Northern District of Texas’ Fort Worth Division, argues that the provision in the Federal Election Campaign Act requiring conduit PACs, like ActBlue and WinRed, to publicly identify donors to give less than $200 to a campaign or committee violates a right to anonymity guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution. “Many Americans like to keep their giving private,” the complaint argues. “Some donors have complex motives and interests that they do not want to explain to others. Others seek anonymity out of modesty, or due to religious beliefs. And many donors fear repercussions if the causes they support become known.” … [Dan Backer, a veteran political attorney for Republicans] said, there may be reason for the court to grant the request to amend the reporting requirements for small-dollar donations made through conduit PACs. “There is a good argument to grant this – the law is uninterested in the sub $200 donation from individuals, OR $100,000 from one individual to many candidates all of whom individually get sub $200 total amounts,” Backer wrote in an email. “Why does their choice to associate through a conduit PAC solely for the purpose of facilitating a contribution they could have made directly if that had been the solicitation they received, change that?” he asked. “There isn’t any basis for it.” Idaho Capital Sun: Idaho joins states with anti-SLAPP laws, aimed at combatting frivolous lawsuits By Kyle Pfannenstiel .....Idaho Gov. Brad Little has signed into law a bill that lawmakers say is intended to protect free speech by curtailing frivolous lawsuits. The law is designed to combat frivolous strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPP lawsuits. The law — created through Senate Bill 1001 — would put lawsuits on hold if a party files an anti-SLAPP motion. The law would let the winning party recover attorney fees. Little signed the bill Monday afternoon, according to the governor’s office legislation tracker. The Idaho anti-SLAPP law takes effect on Jan. 1, 2026. Anti-SLAPP laws are in place in 35 states and the District of Columbia, according to a 2023 report by the Institute for Free Speech. Both chambers of the Idaho Legislature passed the bill with bipartisan, nearly unanimous support — with only one vote in opposition. Under the law, people who are subject to such lawsuits could file a new anti-SLAPP motion in court. The anti-SLAPP motion would freeze the case and allow a judge to quickly dismiss any lawsuit deemed by the judge to be frivolous. The Courts Politico: Judge halts deportation of Palestinian activist whose arrest was celebrated by Trump By Amanda Friedman .....A federal judge has halted the deportation of a Columbia University graduate student who was detained by immigration authorities for his participation in campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war. Judge Jesse Furman of the Southern District of New York issued the order Monday as the government sought to deport Mahmoud Khalil after arresting him outside his apartment over the weekend. The judge scheduled a hearing on the case for Wednesday. Furman, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, said the action was necessary to preserve the court’s jurisdiction before the government could move Khalil outside the state or remove him from the country in a case that his lawyers say violated the student’s First Amendment rights. The legal development came after President Donald Trump praised the arrest as part of his administration’s efforts to punish activists and universities for acts of harassment and violence toward Jewish students during protests that roiled U.S. campuses after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel. “This is the first arrest of many to come,” Trump said in a Truth Social post Monday, linking Khalil’s detainment to his previously signed executive orders to combat antisemitism on college campuses. He added: “We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it. … We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again.” Nonprofit Law Prof Blog: 2025's assault on nonprofits By Joseph Mead .....We're seeing (in my view) an unprecedented (at least in my lifetime) assault on civil society by the federal government. Through a wide range of actions--many of which appear to be lawless--the federal government has threatened, investigated, and cut off funding to any number of nonprofits for simply following their lawful mission. Civil society is *appropriately* not ready to go down without a fight -- more than 100 lawsuits have been filed (usually by nonprofits) challenging the legality of various actions taken over the past 2 months by the federal government in ways that harm the nonprofits or their members. Congress RadioWorld: New Bill Seeks to Prevent “Political Weaponization of the FCC” By Randy J. Stine .....Democrats have introduced legislation to prohibit the FCC from revoking broadcast licenses or taking action against companies based on viewpoints aired on their stations. The Broadcast Freedom and Independence Act states explicitly that the commission is an independent agency and must not use its authority to execute politically motivated attacks against licensees. Democrats are worried that the commission under Chairman Brendan Carr could target specific broadcasters based on the views they express. Three senators wrote to Carr and Commissioner Nathan Simington last month saying the Republicans on the FCC appeared to be opening or reopening investigations into broadcast companies without evidence of wrongdoing “in what appears to be an attempt to intimidate broadcasters for political purposes.” The new bill would seem to have no realistic chance of passage given that Republicans control both chambers of Congress and that the bill would have to be signed by President Trump to become law. But it is an effort by Democrats to amplify their concerns over the current direction of the FCC. New York Post: House Republicans demand data about Dem fundraiser ActBlue amid accusations of fraud By Josh Christenson .....House Republicans are demanding data from the US Treasury Department that will reveal whether fraudulent campaign contributions were made on an online fundraising platform that has funneled billions of dollars to Democratic candidates in recent election cycles. GOP lawmakers on the House Oversight and House Administration committees fired off a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday, requesting all suspicious transactions to lefty fundraising juggernaut ActBlue from Jan. 1, 2023. “The Committees remain concerned with recent reports suggesting fraud and evasion of campaign finance law by individuals exploiting online contribution platforms, especially ActBlue,” wrote Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), Administration Chairman Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) and Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-NY). “Until recently, ActBlue had not implemented standard procedures to guard against identity theft and fraud, such as by requiring a Card Verification Value (CVV) to process online transactions,” they said. “The organization is also the subject of several state-level investigations stemming from allegedly fraudulent contributions made via the platform without the reported contributors’ awareness — serious allegations that, if proven true, would violate federal law.” “[B]ad actors, including foreign nationals,” may also have illegally donated via unwitting straw donors, according to the House GOPers, who believe those and other so-called “dummy” accounts have proliferated on ActBlue. Trump Administration New York Times: The MAGA Culture War Comes for Georgetown Law By David French .....The attacks on free speech and the First Amendment are so numerous that it’s difficult to keep up. And the attacks aren’t just against the prominent players in the political arena. Trump will take on religious institutions as well, even though their rights are just as firmly protected by the First Amendment. Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): The Case Against Deporting Immigrants for "Pro-Terrorist" Speech By Ilya Somin .....The Trump Administration has promised to deport immigrants and foreign students who engage in pro-"terrorist" speech related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yesterday, ICE arrested Palestinian activist and former Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, and plan to deport him. To put it mildly, I have little sympathy for recent anti-Israel campus protests. Nonetheless, deporting people for engaging in anti-Israel, pro-terrorist, or pro-Hamas speech is both unconstitutional and unjust. It also risks creating a dangerous slippery slope. The First Amendment's protection for freedom of speech, like most constitutional rights, is not limited to US citizens. The text of the First Amendment is worded as a general limitation on government power, not a form of special protection for a particular group of people, such as US citizens or permanent residents. The Supreme Court held as much in a 1945 case, where they ruled that "Freedom of speech and of press is accorded aliens residing in this country." The Media Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): Journal of Free Speech Law: "The Press Clause: Important, Remembered, and Equally Shared," by Eugene Volokh By Eugene Volokh .....This article, which responds to Floyd Abrams, Sandra Baron, Lee Levine, Jacob M. Schriner-Briggs & Isaac Barnes May's The Press Clause: The Forgotten First Amendment (and, in part, to Matthew Schafer's "The Press Clause": A Response to Professor Volokh), is here. The Introduction: FCC Deadline: FCC Chairman Sends Letter To Google CEO Over Network’s Complaint That YouTube TV “Discriminates” Against Faith-Based Programming By Ted Johnson .....FCC Chairman Brendan Carr sent a letter to the CEOs of Alphabet and Google, calling out the refusal of YouTube TV to carry a network, Great American Family, as a potential case of discrimination against faith-based programming. In his letter to Sundar Pichai and Neal Mohan, which he posted on X, Carr wrote that he has received a complaint from Great American Media in which they claim that YouTube TV “deliberately marginalizes faith-based and family-friendly content.” He noted that the network is carried on cable and streaming services including Comcast, Cox, Hulu, FuboTV and DirecTV stream... A YouTube spokesperson said, “We welcome the opportunity to brief the FCC on YouTube TV’s subscription service and the strategic business decisions we make based on factors like user demand, operational cost and financial terms, and to reiterate that we do not have any policies that prohibit religious content.” Online Speech Platforms Washington Post: Zuckerberg’s Meta considered sharing user data with China, whistleblower alleges By Naomi Nix .....Meta was willing to go to extreme lengths to censor content and shut down political dissent in a failed attempt to win the approval of the Chinese Communist Party and bring Facebook to millions of internet users in China, according to a new whistleblower complaint from a former global policy director at the company. The complaint by Sarah Wynn-Williams, who worked on a team handling China policy, alleges that the social media giant so desperately wanted to enter the lucrative China market that it was willing to allow the ruling party to oversee all social media content appearing in the country and quash dissenting opinions. The States Santa Fe New Mexican: Legislators trying to unmask nonprofit donors — again By Paul Gessing and Matt Nese .....Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, is again declaring war against free speech and privacy. Senate Bill 85, which recently passed the Senate, doubles down on a 2019 law that is already being challenged in federal court for violating the First Amendment. The bill would enable the political establishment to seize even greater control of the agenda in Santa Fe by silencing many nonprofit organizations. Groups would be forced to choose between their right to speak about the government and the privacy of their supporters. Privacy matters to nonprofits, regardless of their mission. Many groups will self-censor rather than risk exposing their supporters’ names and home addresses. This is not because they are nefarious “dark money” groups, as some media reports suggest, but because they rightly fear retaliation from the elected officials they criticize. Axios: Here are 12 bills headed to the governor as Utah wraps 2025 legislative session By Kim Bojórquez and Erin Alberty .....Utah's 45-day legislative session came to a close Friday. What we're watching: Gov. Spencer Cox has until March 27 to sign, veto or allow bills to pass without his signature. He declined to say during a Friday press conference which bills were on his veto list. Here are some of the bills headed to his desk: Pride flags would be banned from being displayed in schools and government buildings under HB 77. The big picture: The bill's Senate sponsor, Sen. Dan McCay (R-Riverton) argued the legislation would neutralize government buildings and classrooms from political speech. The latest: The bill has received staunch pushback from LGBTQ+ and civil rights groups. In a statement, Equality Utah said the bill targets free expression and that it would support legal action to fight it in court. Fresno Bee: City attorney vows to uncover who’s behind mailer attacking a Fresno City Council frontrunner By Melissa Montalvo .....The city of Fresno is investigating a negative campaign mailer sent by an unknown “dark money” source to hundreds of homes in southeast Fresno on the eve of a special council election. The mailer, sent by a group called Fresno Future Forward, contains serious but unconfirmed allegations against Brandon Vang, which his campaign has called “completed false and deeply hurtful.” Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz announced his office is investigating whether the mailers violated the state and local campaign finance laws. “Voters have a right to know under the law who is behind these mailers,” Janz said at a Monday press conference. Any group that spends more than $1,000 on a campaign is required to register with the City Clerk’s office as an independent expenditure — but there’s no record of Fresno Future Forward registering with the city. Nor is it there any record of the group with the California Secretary of State. 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." 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