Email from The Institute for Free Speech The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech June 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]. Supreme Court The Hill: Supreme Court to review New Jersey AG’s subpoena to anti-abortion clinics By Zach Schonfeld .....The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin’s (D) subpoena seeking donor records from a network of anti-abortion clinics. In a brief order, the justices said they will examine whether First Choice Women’s Resource Centers can mount a First Amendment challenge in federal court. Lower judges ruled the group’s free speech claim was not ripe because it could be brought in state court instead, but First Choice warned that holding would create a “Catch-22” that prevents a federal judge from ever reviewing the subpoena’s constitutionality. The Courts New York Times: Ex-New York Assembly Candidate Charged With Campaign Finance Fraud By Santul NerkarJay Root and Bianca Pallaro .....A former New York State Assembly candidate used fake donations and forged signatures to fraudulently inflate the share of public matching funds he received in last year’s election, federal prosecutors said on Friday. The former candidate, Dao Yin, was charged with wire fraud in a federal criminal complaint. On Friday afternoon, he appeared before Magistrate Judge Vera Scanlon in Federal District Court in Brooklyn and was released on a $75,000 bond. The charging of Mr. Yin, a Democrat who ran for a State Assembly seat in Queens, came a year after The New York Times published an investigation that found he appeared to have listed dozens of fake donors to increase his allotment of money under a new state matching-funds program meant to increase the power of donors making small political contributions. Reuters: Judge rejects release of pro-Palestinian activist Khalil By Luc Cohen .....A U.S. judge on Friday denied Mahmoud Khalil's request to be released from detention, after federal prosecutors changed their rationale for holding the Columbia graduate student as part of their crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists. Newark, New Jersey-based U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz on Wednesday said the government could not use foreign policy interests to justify Khalil's detention. On Friday the government said it was also holding Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the United States, on a charge of immigration fraud. Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): First Amendment Challenge to Suspension from University of Texas for Pro-Palestinian Protest Can Go Forward By Eugene Volokh .....From today's opinion by Judge Robert Pitman (W.D. Tex.) in Qaddumi v. Hartzell: CBS News: New Hampshire jury acquits consultant behind AI robocalls mimicking Biden on all charges By Holly Ramer .....A political consultant who sent artificial intelligence-generated robocalls mimicking former President Joe Biden to New Hampshire Democrats last year was acquitted Friday of voter suppression and impersonating a candidate. Steven Kramer, 56, of New Orleans, admitted orchestrating a message sent to thousands of voters two days before the state's Jan. 23, 2024, presidential primary. Recipients heard an AI-generated voice similar to the Democratic president's that used his catchphrase "What a bunch of malarkey" and, as prosecutors alleged, suggested that voting in the primary would preclude voters from casting ballots in November. "It's important that you save your vote for the November election," voters were told. "Your votes make a difference in November, not this Tuesday." Kramer, who would have faced decades in prison if convicted, testified that he wanted to send a wake-up call about the potential dangers of AI when he paid a New Orleans magician $150 to create the recording. He was getting frequent calls from people using AI in campaigns, and, worried about the lack of regulations, made it his New Year's resolution to take action.  Congress The UnPopulist: The Judiciary Will Become Virtually Powerless in Protecting Your Rights if the Current Budget Bill Becomes Law By Clint Bolick .....Just imagine, for instance, that during Covid, courts could not stop executive orders closing down houses of worship unless millions of dollars were posted in bonds. Or an executive order confiscating guns. The basic idea of a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction is to prevent the damage to the rights and well-being of citizens from the government carrying out an action or policy that is likely to be found illegal or unconstitutional. The new Senate version turns that logic on its head, instead seeking to protect the government from any costs that might be incurred from citizens asserting their rights. This new version no longer tries to take away the power to enforce rulings through contempt. Nor does it apply retroactively, which could have caused chaos and brought settlements in many old cases into doubt. But it imposes a requirement that plaintiffs suing the federal government post a bond “in an amount proper to pay the costs and damages sustained by the Federal Government.” Crucially, “No court may consider any factor other than the value of the costs and damages sustained.” That could mean that they can’t consider the potential damage to the plaintiffs from the government’s actions, nor can they consider the plaintiffs’ ability to pay. FEC The Hill: Experts warn FEC is a watchdog lacking ‘bark or bite’ with no quorum By Jared Gans .....The pending situation could be similar to the one that Dickerson, Commissioner Shana Broussard and former Commissioner Sean Cooksey inherited when the Senate confirmed their nominations to the agency in December 2020, ending the last loss of quorum. The FEC last had six members in January. Dickerson told The Hill in an interview that much of the backlog dated back to the 2016 election cycle, and the commission’s members had to make “very difficult decisions,” taking into account a limited budget, about what cases they could move forward on and what needed to be let go given time constraints. He credited Broussard, who served as chair in 2021 while he served as vice chair, as being key to clearing the backlog. “We had a shared commitment to ensuring that the commission was restored to functioning order, and that required dealing with, in many cases, old and complex cases that were really making it difficult for the agency to get back up and running,” Dickerson said. “And that was a lot of hard work and late nights.” He said the extent of the problem that the current lack of quorum causes for the FEC will depend on how long it lasts and the number of credible complaints that are filed, adding that often complaints aren’t well argued or are designed more for “headlines” than the law. Dickerson said a lot of focus is on the FEC’s enforcement docket, but he expressed more concern about its current inability to engage on rulemaking and requests for advisory opinions to assist the public. “The closer one gets to an election, the more likely it is that the outside world is going to need guidance from the commission on novel questions of the law,” he said. “And until a quorum is restored, that’s a key function of the commission that may be undervalued by some people, which I think is maybe its most important function.” FTC New York Times: F.T.C. May Put Unusual Condition on Ad Mega-Merger: No Boycotting By Lauren Hirsch, Benjamin Mullin Kate Conger, and Tiffany Hsu .....As the Trump administration considers approving a proposed merger between two of the world’s largest advertising agencies, Omnicom Group and Interpublic Group, regulators may impose unusual conditions. A proposed consent decree would prevent the merged company from boycotting platforms because of their political content by refusing to place their clients’ advertisements on them, according to two people briefed on the matter. The restrictions being discussed by the Federal Trade Commission as part of its merger review are part of an effort by the Trump administration to use federal agencies to root out what it considers political bias in corporate America against conservative voices and causes. The two people, who requested anonymity because the talks are confidential, said the terms of the merger review between the F.T.C. and the two advertising companies were not final and could change. The States New York Times: Many Lawmakers Share Their Home Addresses. Political Violence Is Changing That. By Mitch Smith .....“In light of the tragedy in Minnesota, we quickly decided to remove all addresses until our leaders have time to assess the proper balance between transparency and safety of our elected officials,” John D. Bjornson, the director of the North Dakota Legislative Council, said in an email. In interviews with lawmakers across the country, some said sharing their home address helped reassure constituents that they were part of the community and could be easily reached. But unlike governors and presidents, most state lawmakers have no special security protection when they are away from work. The country’s coarsening public discourse has left them to weigh difficult trade-offs. Galveston Daily News: Affidavit reveals details of Texas City online impersonation charge By Lauren Frick .....A city employee charged with impersonating La Marque City Councilman Joseph Lowry created nearly a half dozen posts through a fake social media page, court documents released Friday alleged. Derek Miller, 41, on Tuesday afternoon was arrested by the La Marque Police Department at City Hall, 1801 Ninth Ave. N., for online impersonation — a third degree felony. The department’s probable cause affidavit alleges Miller created a Facebook profile with the name “Joseph Lowry” and made several posts relating to Texas City employees and city commission matters, painting them in a positive light. It alleges the actions constituted a crime because they were done with the intent to “harm or defraud Joseph Lowry and the General Public.” Nonprofit Law Prof Blog: Florida Prohibits Charitable Solicitation of Contributions From Foreign Countries "of Concern" By Lloyd Mayer .....As many readers of this blog likely know, charitable solicitation in Florida is regulated under the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. That is apparently why a new state restriction on charitable solicitations in that state that will be effective as of July 1, 2025 was included in a recently passed Florida farm bill. SB700 prohibits charitable solicitations or the acceptance of contributions from "a foreign source of concern," defined as is a government entity or official, political party, or other legal entity or individual, who is from a "foreign country of concern." Existing Florida state law defines a "foreign country of concern" as "the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Republic of Cuba, the Venezuelan regime of Nicolás Maduro, or the Syrian Arab Republic." Nonprofit Law Prof Blog: Indiana AG Opens Inquiries Into Private University DEI Policies By Lloyd Mayer .....Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita publicly announced that he has sent letters to the University of Notre Dame (my employer) and to Butler and DePauw universities regarding their DEI activities and raising the possibility that they are inconsistent with their nonprofit status under state law. From the press release about the letter to Notre Dame: AP News: Louisiana AG investigating CVS for sending mass text messages lobbying against legislation By Sara Cline and Jack Brook .....Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced Thursday she is investigating whether pharmaceutical giant CVS improperly used customers’ personal information to send out text messages lobbying against a proposed state law. Murrill also said she plans to issue a cease-and-desist letter to the company to stop the messages. As lawmakers debated a now-failed bill on Wednesday they held up screenshots of text messages sent by CVS. “Last minute legislation in Louisiana threatens to close your CVS Pharmacy — your medication cost may go up and your pharmacist may lose their job,” one such text, obtained by The Associated Press, read. Read an article you think we would be interested in? Send it to Tiffany Donnelly at [email protected]. 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