Email from The Institute for Free Speech The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech May 16, 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]. Ed. note: The Daily Media update will return Tuesday, May 27. In the News NH Journal: Kearsarge School Board Chair Threatens Citizen with Arrest for ‘Misgendering’ Trans Athlete By Damien Fisher .....Why would Kearsarge School Board Chair Alison Mastin threaten to have a member of the public arrested for speaking at a public meeting? According to the new lawsuit filed in the United States District Court in Concord, because the speaker called a biological male athlete who identifies as female a “tall boy.” Beth Scaer, a well-known conservative Granite State activist, made her comment during an August meeting as the Kearsarge board was dealing with the state’s new law banning biological males from girls’ sports. Kearsarge is home to champion high school athlete Maelle Jacques, a boy who identifies as a girl and won first place in the girls’ high jump competition last year. New from the Institute for Free Speech Free Speech Lawsuit Challenges New Hampshire School Board’s Censorship during Trans Athlete Debate .....Beth Scaer spoke out against male athletes in girls’ high school sports at a local school board meeting—but the board silenced her just seconds into her remarks and threatened to have the police remove her, claiming that she had violated an unwritten policy against “derogatory comments” for merely referring to a biologically male athlete who competes on the girls’ soccer team as a “tall boy.” Now, Scaer is fighting back against this unconstitutional censorship. Attorneys from the Institute for Free Speech, along with local counsel Roy S. McCandless, filed a federal lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire on behalf of Scaer. The suit challenges the Kearsarge Regional School Board’s enforcement of the unwritten “no derogatory comments” rule used to censor public discussion of controversial topics. Free Speech Arguments – Can Arizona Compel Broad Donor Disclosure for Ordinary Speech? (Americans for Prosperity, et al. v. Meyer, et al.) .....Americans for Prosperity, et al. v. Meyer, et al., argued before Circuit Judges Johnnie B. Rawlinson, Patrick J. Bumatay, and Gabriel P. Sanchez in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on May 15, 2025. Argued by Derek L. Shaffer (on behalf of Americans for Prosperity, et al.) and David Kolker (on behalf of Intervenor-Defendant Voters’ Right to Know) and Eric Fraser (on behalf of Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission). Background of the case, from the Institute for Free Speech amicus brief: The Courts Courthouse News: Arizona bid to light up political dark money blasted as invasion of privacy By Joe Duhownik .....A conservative advocacy group told the Ninth Circuit on Thursday that an Arizona law intended to shed light on dark money in campaign finance violates donor privacy. Voted into law in 2022 by more than 70% of Arizonans, the “Voters Right to Know Act” requires statewide campaigns that spend more than $50,000 in advocacy to disclose the names of donors who gave more than $5,000, even if that donation isn’t directly connected to the cause. “This law demands disclosure not only of direct donors, but also what it calls indirect donors: all those who gave to any organization anywhere upstream whose funds somehow found their way to what the law dubs campaign media spending,” plaintiff attorney Derek Shaffer said in a Phoenix courtroom Thursday morning. Shaffer, representing the nonprofit Americans for Prosperity, told the three-judge panel that if one donated more than $5,000 to their church over the course of a year, then the church donated that money to a larger charity that then supported a political candidate or ballot measure, that donor would be “outed” as a supporter of that political cause. Shaffer said this could violate a citizen’s right to privacy and First Amendment right to free association by forcing one to associate with a political position they may not agree with. Ed. note: Listen to full oral argument here. Courthouse News: Washington professor claims free speech rights over school’s removal of mock land acknowledgement By Monique Merrill .....A controversial parody land acknowledgment that sparked campus backlash came before a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Thursday, as a University of Washington professor accused the school of violating his free speech rights… The University of Washington adopted a land acknowledgement statement expressing that it sits on occupied Coast Salish tribal land as an effort to signal to Indigenous people that they are welcome at the school and encouraged professors to include the statement at the top of their course syllabi. But Stuart Reges, a computer science professor, included what the state refers to as a “parody land acknowledgement” in his winter 2022 syllabus for an introductory course. “I acknowledge that by the labor theory of property, the Coast Salish people can claim historical ownership of almost none of the land currently occupied by the University of Washington,” Reges' statement reads. The school asked Reges to remove the statement from his introductory course and invited him to voice his opinion in different settings and eventually opened an investigation into the incident when Reges vowed to continue including the statement. Congress Tech Policy Press: US House Committee Advances 10-Year Moratorium on State AI Regulation By Justin Hendrix .....Early Wednesday, at a markup hearing to consider legislative recommendations for budget reconciliation, House Energy & Commerce Committee Republicans advanced a 10-year moratorium on enforcing state legislation on artificial intelligence. After an amendment to remove the moratorium failed, it will advance with the legislative package. On Sunday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Chairman, Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY), released budget reconciliation text containing the 10-year moratorium. Under “Section 43201: Artificial intelligence and information technology modernization initiative,” the text includes provisions to modernize federal IT systems with commercial AI technologies and mandate their adoption to “increase operational efficiency and service delivery,” automation, and cybersecurity. The moratorium is in Subsection (c), which states: Wall Street Journal: Five Takeaways From RFK Jr.’s Grilling on Capitol Hill By Liz Essley Whyte .....Kennedy, Sanders and Hawley—not generally considered allies—agreed to support legislation to clamp down on direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising. Free Expression New York Post: I’m a Yale free-speech champion — arrested for words I never said By Lauren Noble .....I never thought I’d end up in handcuffs and a jail cell for something I didn’t say. But last May, police in New Haven, Conn., arrested me — because a parking attendant falsely claimed I had used a racial slur against him nearly a year earlier. I denied it. I asked the cops to check the parking lot’s surveillance video. They didn’t — and the state charged me first with disorderly conduct, then with three counts of breach of peace in the second degree. It took almost a year, tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees and endless stress before the nightmare ended on March 27, when the prosecutor finally dropped all charges. Why? “Insufficient evidence,” “inconsistencies,” “credibility issues,” video that “clearly contradicted” the accuser’s claims — and a possibility that I wasn’t even the right person. The judge dismissed the case. If this can happen to me — a First Amendment advocate with resources, legal counsel and a public reputation to defend — it can happen to anyone. The States Texas Tribune: Texas lawmakers push to enforce election transparency law after newsrooms found school districts failed to comply By Lexi Churchill .....Texas lawmakers are pushing to impose steep penalties on local governments that don’t post campaign finance reports online, after an investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found some school districts weren’t doing so. The initial posting requirements, designed to make election spending more transparent, went into effect nearly two years ago. Most of the school district leaders said they had no idea they were out of compliance until the newsrooms contacted them. Even after many districts uploaded whatever documentation they had on file for their trustee elections, reports were still missing because candidates hadn’t turned them in or the schools lost them. “I was surprised and disappointed,” said Republican state Rep. Carl Tepper, who authored the online posting requirement. “I did realize that we didn’t really put any teeth into the bill.” Tepper is aiming to correct that with a new bill this legislative session. He cited the newsrooms’ findings in a written explanation of why the state needs to implement greater enforcement. NBC Montana: Former commissioner leads effort to eliminate dark money in Montana politics By Bowen West .....A former state Commissioner of Political Practices is starting an effort to get dark money out of politics. Thursday, Jeff Mangan held a conversation in Missoula to find out what changes citizens want to see. The Transparent Election Initiative is a grassroots, nonpartisan, citizen-led effort to create transparent politics. Mangan, who founded the initiative, said regardless of political leanings, people are tired of excessive money in politics. 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. Follow the Institute for Free Speech The Institute for Free Speech | 1150 Connecticut Ave., NW Suite 801 | Washington, DC 20036 US Unsubscribe | Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice