Email from The Institute for Free Speech The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech June 25, 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 Minnesota Star Tribune: Gun rights, anti-abortion groups challenge Minnesota lobbying disclosure rules By Allison Kite .....A pair of controversial right-wing advocacy groups are challenging Minnesota lobbying laws that require organizations to disclose spending meant to urge individuals to influence lawmakers, arguing they chill free speech. Minnesota Right to Life and Minnesota Gun Rights — both run by Executive Director Ben Dorr — filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota earlier this month, arguing the state’s grassroots lobbying requirements violate the First Amendment. The lawsuit says the state doesn’t have a sufficiently important interest in requiring the disclosures. State rules require that when an organization or individual spends more than $2,000 on paid advertising to rally public support and influence lawmakers, it must disclose the spending and any specific subjects addressed by the advertising. The state refers to it as “grassroots lobbying.” Similar requirements exist for spending on election campaigns or political advertising. “There’s certainly no right to have that kind of information,” Brett Nolan, an attorney for the Institute for Free Speech, said of the disclosures required for grassroots lobbying, “but what we do have is a right to speak and to speak about political issues.” The Courts Center Square (California): Pro-life activist fights city of San Diego in 9th Circuit court By Jamie Parsons .....A pro-life activist is challenging the city of San Diego’s standard on free speech by appealing a federal judge’s dismissal of his lawsuit against a “no speech zone” law outside abortion clinics. With the help from the Thomas More Society, a not-for-profit pro-life law firm, Roger Lopez is appealing U.S. District Court Judge Linda Lopez’s decision to dismiss his lawsuit and deny his motion for a preliminary injunction. On behalf of the plaintiff, TMS attorneys are arguing against San Diego’s ordinance in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit on grounds that it violates Roger Lopez’s First and 14th Amendments by restricting his right to speak freely on public sidewalks and to pregnant women in need. Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): Did Elected Officials Violate First Amendment by Orchestrating Public Criticism of (and Racism Allegations Against) Their Critic? By Eugene Volokh .....Jack Lipton was a prominent professor and administrator at Michigan State University, and in 2023-24 "he served as the Faculty Senate Chair," "the liaison between the MSU faculty" and the MSU Board of Trustees, which is elected statewide. He got into a dispute with two members of the BOT, Chair Rema Vassar and member Dennis Denno. Here's the backstory, from the May 28 decision by Chief Judge Hala Jarbou (W.D. Mich.) in Lipton v. Mich. State Univ. Bd. of Trustees (appeal pending): Congress People United for Privacy: PUFP Urges Congress and States to Act on Donor Privacy Protections Following Minnesota Shootings .....In the wake of the tragic, targeted attacks on the homes of two Minnesota lawmakers and their families, People United for Privacy (PUFP) is urging Congress and state legislatures to protect elected officials and donors from violence by redacting street names and numbers in public records. As lawmakers rightfully consider proposals to shield their own home addresses from public view, PUFP calls for coordinated action with the Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) ongoing bipartisan rulemaking and related legislative recommendation to protect sensitive donor information as well. Redacting street-level addresses should be standard procedure, not a special exemption. “The FEC has taken an important step by proposing a redaction process for political contributors who can demonstrate a risk of potential harm and urging Congress to pass additional reforms,” said Heather Lauer, CEO of People United for Privacy. “But that’s not enough. The default should be privacy. Street addresses should no longer be made public, period. The burden shouldn’t fall on individuals to prove they deserve protection.” Reason: Fighting Antisemitism Should Not Come at the Expense of the First Amendment By Rand Paul .....Despite the increase in antisemitism, it is still inappropriate for the United States Senate to respond by imposing sweeping restrictions on constitutionally protected speech. That's exactly what the Antisemitism Awareness Act threatens to do. During a recent markup in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, I opposed this legislation—not because I take antisemitism lightly, but because I take the First Amendment seriously. This bill poses a grave threat to free speech, as it would grant unelected federal bureaucrats the authority to police speech, theology, and political thought, particularly on college campuses. FEC Election Law Blog: “Interviewing FEC Filings with llm-fecfile” By Justin Levitt .....Data journalist Derek Willis has an interesting new tool: "Today I’m releasing a new Python command-line library that allows users to ask questions of federal campaign finance filings by leveraging large language models, with some built-in help. This project, llm-fecfile, also builds on previous work by data journalists that helps make these filings easier to parse and use. The combination of LLMs and domain expertise is a powerful one that has some real implications for journalists." Free Expression Center Square: Organization says pro-Palestine protester should lose job, free speech group disagrees By Tate Miller .....An organization publicly questioned two hospitals for employing individuals who participated in pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses, but free speech advocates said that Americans have the right to “both a career and a political opinion.” Accuracy in Media is running two separate petitions against Alameda Health and UW Harborview Medical Center, respectively, in an attempt to make the hospitals evaluate whether they should employ the pro-Palestinian protesters in question. Accuracy in Media (AIM) is a nonprofit “that uses investigative journalism and cultural activism to expose corruption and hold bad public policy actors accountable,” according to its website. Both AIM petitions demand “get hate out of your hospital,” and ask whether someone who participated in a “violent mob” that “was pro-Hamas” can uphold his or her “promise to ‘do no harm.’” Online Speech Platforms New York Times: I Tried, and Failed, to Disappear From the Internet By Max Eddy .....I had long known that they were a deeply private person, but their desire for privacy never seemed to affect our friendship. We’d catch up over direct messages or meet for coffee as if no time had passed. But this time, their disappearing act seemed to have stuck. I tried to track them down by using search engines and combing social networks, and I figured something would turn up. But I was wrong. They had ceased to exist — online at least. Disappearing is a tough trick when almost anyone who knows your name and a few identifying facts can potentially find your home address, cell phone number, family members, and other personal details — a reality that is at the very least disquieting, if not dangerous. Not to mention other sources of personal information, like photos that appear on company websites for jobs you’ve long left, class pictures from schools you graduated from decades ago, or snapshots from a family reunion posted by a distant relative. Taking those down might require some rather awkward conversations. Once your information is on the internet, removing it completely is almost impossible. But, in part because I was inspired by and curious about my disappearing friend, I decided to try. The States New Jersey Monitor: After Minnesota assassinations, N.J. lawmakers seek to shield their home addresses By Nikita Biryukov .....A New Jersey lawmaker wants to bar the disclosure of state legislators’ home addresses after a gunman killed Minnesota’s House speaker and left another lawmaker critically wounded earlier this month. Assemblyman Chris DePhillips’ proposal would add legislators to the list of officials whose personal information is shielded under Daniel’s Law, which currently prohibits the publication of home addresses of judges and law enforcement personnel. “We need to do something on our end to protect public officials who have made the step to serve the public,” DePhillips (R-Bergen) told the New Jersey Monitor. “The least we can do is not just protect them but to protect their loved ones, protect their children, protect their grandchildren who are not public officials and should not literally be caught in the crossfire.” NorthJersey.com: NJ bill to define antisemitism prompts another tense hearing. Why it's controversial By Deena Yellin .....After a year in legislative limbo, a bill to adopt a definition of antisemitism in New Jersey law finally received another public hearing Monday. But the legislation proved as controversial as ever, with proponents citing a deadly spike in anti-Jewish violence and opponents fearing that the measure would be used to punish criticism of Israel's war in Gaza. In the end, the Assembly Community Development and Women's Affairs Committee heard three hours of testimony in Trenton on whether to adopt the the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's language. But it opted not to vote on the measure, A3558, angering people on both sides who traveled long distances for the hearing. 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. 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