April 10, 2025

In the News

The Detroit News: Keating: State lawmakers should prioritize protecting free speech

By David Keating

.....Analyzing how well states protect their citizens from SLAPPs is a priority for my organization, the Institute for Free Speech. We painstakingly analyze anti-SLAPP protections in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. and publish an Anti-SLAPP Report Card with the findings. Our most recent report published in late 2023, with a new one set to publish later this year.

The news for Michigan isn’t good. It earns a grade of “F” and a score of zero out of 100 points, having no anti-SLAPP laws whatsoever.

The Courts

Reason: On Remand, the 5th Circuit Again Blocks a Lawsuit by a Texas Reporter Arrested for Newsgathering

By Jacob Sullum

.....Last October, the Supreme Court revived a federal civil rights lawsuit by Laredo, Texas, news vlogger Priscilla Villarreal, who was literally arrested for asking questions—a flagrant violation of the First Amendment. The justices remanded the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which yesterday killed the lawsuit again.

Judge Edith Jones, who wrote the 2024 decision that rejected Villarreal's lawsuit the last time around, is also the author of Tuesday's ruling in Villarreal v. Laredo, which begins with a telling mischaracterization. According to Jones, Villarreal claims she suffered "unconstitutional retaliation based on her 'speech' obtained from backchannel police sources in order to benefit herself in violation of Tex. Admin. Code Section 39.06(c)"—a little-known, rarely invoked law aimed at "misuse of official information." That gloss, like Jones' 2024 opinion, obscures the reality that Villarreal was "jailed for basic journalism," as Reason's Billy Binion put it in 2023—a point he elucidated in a compelling 2024 video about her case.

Bloomberg Law: I Saw Lawyers Stand Up Against the State—We Need Them to Again

By Philip Allen Lacovara

.....On behalf of a group of my fellow former presidents of the District of Columbia Bar, I drafted an amici curiae brief in the Perkins Coie litigation, supporting its motion for summary judgment. I developed four major themes:

First, the adversary system is an essential element of the legal order established by the Constitution and depends on the effective functioning of an independent bar.

Second, the right to select counsel of one’s own choice is an indispensable corollary of this constitutional order.

Third, under this constitutional order, no government official may punish or blackball a lawyer or law firm simply for vigorously representing a client or cause that the official dislikes.

Fourth, government retaliation against lawyers and law firms distorts the system of pro bono representation that is vital to the functioning of the system of justice administered by Article III courts.

Ed. note: Further reading from Reason's J.D. Tuccille is available here.

Congress

New York Times: Senate Panel Demands Information About Gaza Protest Group at Columbia

By Colin Moynihan and Mitch Smith

.....A Senate committee asked Columbia University to provide extensive information about Students for Justice in Palestine, a group that had been at the center of protests on campus over Israel and Gaza.

Information sought by the committee, including “all records in the university’s possession related to SJP and its on-campus activities,” was requested by Wednesday in a letter signed by Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican of Louisiana and the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

The States

Kansas Reflector: Kansas governor signs bill doubling campaign finance limits on legislative candidates

By Tim Carpenter

.....Gov. Laura Kelly signed a bill doubling campaign contribution limits to statewide and legislative candidates and a separate bill establishing new boundaries for the state commission responsible for enforcing campaign finance law.

The content of House Bill 2054 and House Bill 2206 was a point of contention at the Capitol because the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission — renamed the Kansas Public Disclosure Commission by the legislation — had launched a controversial and politically sensitive investigation of Republican officials, consultants and activists for potentially coordinating campaign cash in ways contrary to state law.

The final version of HB 2054, which passed the House on a vote of 72-52 and the Senate by a margin of 26-14, increased aggregate limits for donations in primary and general elections from $2,000 to $4,000 for candidates for statewide office, including governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, insurance commissioner and state treasurer.

The Daily Signal: ‘CROSSED THE RUBICON’: Colorado House Passes Bill Treating as Child Abuse Dissent From Transgender Orthodoxy

By Tyler O'Neil

.....The Colorado House of Representatives passed a bill Sunday that would remove kids from parents’ custody for behaviors like “misgendering” and “deadnaming” after Democrats cited the Southern Poverty Law Center to justify excluding parental rights groups from discussion on the bill.

The bill, HB 1312, passed with 36 votes in favor, 20 against, and nine absent in a largely party-line vote. One Democrat, Bob Marshall, voted against the bill.

Newsday: Hochul, NYS lawmakers eye changing rules on public campaign financing, sources say

By Yancey Roy

.....As part of state budget talks, lawmakers are discussing new rules for publicly financed campaigns, tweaking a restriction on contributions greater than $250, according to sources with knowledge of the negotiations.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, the State Senate and Assembly are considering changing the terms for receiving public funds for campaigns. They also are considering a pay-back-what-money-you-did-not-use provision, the sources said.

The campaign finance changes could be tucked into a final budget agreement, the sources said. Hochul and lawmakers are negotiating a state spending plan that was supposed to be in place April 1...

One idea under discussion is allowing a donor to give more than $250 but have just the first $250 count toward the matching grant program.

This isn’t a wholly new idea. The State Legislature approved a version in 2023, which would have altered the $250 limit and, for example, increased the Assembly requirements to $10,000 in donations from 145 residents.

Good government groups opposed that bill, saying it would make terms too daunting for many challengers and eliminate some of the restraints on big donors.

Hochul vetoed the bill.

The sources said current talks include "elements" of the 2023 bill but not all of it.

Tennessee Lookout: Pardoned ex-Sen. Kelsey wrangles for amendment to campaign finance bill

By Sam Stockard

.....Straight off a prison stint cut short by a presidential pardon, former Tennessee Sen. Brian Kelsey is maneuvering for legislation to pay his legal expenses.

The ex-Germantown Republican who served two weeks in federal prison for directing an illicit campaign finance scheme is lobbying lawmakers to pass legislation that would enable him to use his state campaign account to pay legal fees after three years of court battles.