Email from The Institute for Free Speech The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech July 21, 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 Bleeding Heartland: Why the Iowa Senate finally approved enhanced First Amendment protections By Laura Belin .....When the Iowa House and Senate approve a bill unanimously, you might assume it was easy to get the measure to the governor’s desk. But appearances can be deceiving. Sometimes, a unanimous vote for final passage obscures years of hard work to pull a bill over the finish line. So it was with House File 472, which took effect on July 1. The law will make it easier for Iowans to defend themselves when facing meritless lawsuits filed in order to chill speech. Such cases are often called “strategic lawsuits against public participation,” because the plaintiffs have no realistic chance to win in court. Rather, they are suing as a means to silence or retaliate against critics. Iowa was the 38th state to adopt an “anti-SLAPP” law, according to the Washington, DC-based Institute for Free Speech, which advocates for such legal protections across the country. If not for one state senator’s determined opposition, Iowa might have joined that club years earlier. The Courts New York Times: Trump Order on International Criminal Court Likely Violates First Amendment, Judge Rules By Mattathias Schwartz .....An executive order by President Trump seeking to punish people who work with the International Criminal Court is most likely a violation of the First Amendment, a federal judge found on Friday. Judge Nancy Torresen of the Federal District Court in Maine shielded two U.S. human rights activists from any penalties for violating the directive, saying that by threatening to punish anyone who provides “funds, goods or services” to I.C.C. officials under sanctions, the order restricts a swath of speech-based activity that goes beyond its stated aims. The ruling marked a striking, if tentative and limited, blow to Mr. Trump’s efforts to penalize and isolate the world’s highest criminal court. It has drawn his ire by issuing arrest warrants for high-ranking Israeli officials and conducting preliminary investigations into U.S. personnel at secret C.I.A. sites overseas years ago. The court, in turn, has said Mr. Trump is trying to harm its “independent and impartial judicial work.” The Tennessean: Federal judge permanently blocks part of TN abortion travel ban on free speech grounds By Angele Latham .....A federal judge has permanently blocked a portion of a Tennessee law passed last year that makes it a felony to recruit or transport a minor for an illegal abortion without parental consent, following a First Amendment lawsuit over the phrasing of the law. All enforcement of the “recruitment” provision of the law is now permanently enjoined, following a July 18 ruling by Senior Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Julia Gibbons, sitting as district judge by designation... In a previous interview with the James Bopp Jr., the general counsel for the National Right to Life Committee, which largely authored the bill text used in the Tennessee and Idaho versions of the law, Bopp called concerns over the term “recruitment” “bulls**t.” “There's no confusion about that,” he said, adding that “nobody thinks” that the word “recruit” could include “just posting information” or speaking about abortion. The Hill: Trump sues after Wall Street Journal’s Epstein story By Zach Schonfeld .....President Trump sued The Wall Street Journal for defamation on Friday after the newspaper published a story detailing an alleged letter Trump sent to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday. The 18-page complaint says the story has caused “overwhelming financial and reputational harm” for the president, demanding billions of dollars in damages. Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): Hamtramck (Michigan) May Stop Flying Pride Flag and Other Flags on City Flagpoles By Eugene Volokh .....From Monday's decision by Judge David Lawson (E.D. Mich.) in Gordon v. City of Hamtramck: Trump Administration Politico: Gabbard threatens prosecution against Obama administration officials for ‘treasonous conspiracy’ By Jacob Wendler and Amy Mackinnon .....Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard called for several Obama administration officials to face criminal prosecution for participating in a “treasonous conspiracy” surrounding the 2016 election on Friday afternoon, the latest example of the Trump administration targeting critics of the president. In a newly declassified report, Gabbard on Friday alleged the officials “manipulated and withheld” key intelligence from the public related to the possibility of Russian interference in the election. New York Times: State Dept. Official Says Criticism of Israel Can Lead to Visa Revocations By Zach Montague .....A senior State Department official testified Friday that his office, which the Trump administration has tasked with vetting foreign students’ social media posts and revoking student visas, has operated this year without a working definition of “antisemitism” and routinely considers criticism of Israel as part of its work. Donor Privacy The Hill: As political violence intensifies, stop publishing home addresses By Former Sen. Rick Santorum .....I have dealt with my share of violent threats in my career, but I was a U.S. senator and presidential candidate, and sadly that has been the norm for some time. But threats and acts of politically motivated violence are now affecting all levels of public officials, nonprofit leaders and even ordinary Americans who attend rallies or speak out on public issues. Lawmakers are not powerless to address this danger. In fact, they bear some responsibility for the problem. Federal and state laws make it remarkably easy to uncover the home addresses of lawmakers, their families and their supporters. Campaign finance laws make donor addresses publicly available, even for those who give only a few hundred dollars. In some states, even nonprofit donors can be exposed and tracked. The Media The Free Press: Happy Independence Day, NPR By Uri Berliner .....The Senate voted this morning to claw back $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides funding for NPR, PBS, and local stations. Pending final approval in the House, the federal government will, after more than half a century, no longer be in the business of supporting NPR. The vote is a victory for Republicans who have long had National Public Radio (NPR) in their sights. But it is also a victory for those of any political stripe who believe the government has no business funding the media. Political Parties Election Law Blog: Kang, “Party Campaign Finance from FECA to Modern Hyperpartisanship” By Dan Tokaji .....Michael Kang’s latest, forthcoming in Fifty Years of Buckley v. Valeo (Lee Bollinger & Geoffrey Stone eds., 2025). The abstract: The States Atlanta Journal-Constitution: How an alleged Georgia Ponzi scheme fueled far-right causes By Charles Minshew, David Wickert and Greg Bluestein .....The Frost family used nearly $1.4 million in campaign contributions, much of it allegedly swindled from investors, to build political clout in Georgia and across the nation over the past two decades, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis shows. A review of thousands of federal and state campaign finance transactions shows Brant Frost IV, his family and his companies have contributed roughly $711,000 to Republican candidates and conservative causes in Georgia. But the Frosts also spread their contributions far beyond the Peach State, giving significant sums to candidates in Alabama, Florida, Maine and elsewhere…. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused Frost IV and his Newnan-based firm, First Liberty Building & Loan, of orchestrating a $140 million Ponzi scheme — and funneling more than $570,000 of the proceeds into campaign coffers. The AJC scoured state and federal campaign data from across the U.S. and found hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional contributions from the Frost family and their companies that show a broader pattern of political giving that sought to shape Georgia GOP politics, and served and bankrolled ultraconservative causes around the nation. The Bedrock Principle: Liability Laundering by Algorithm By Ashkhen Kazaryan .....California lawmakers are once again testing the constitutional limits of internet regulation, and SB 771 is their latest attempt to sidestep Section 230 and the First Amendment. On its face, the bill claims to impose liability on large social media companies only when they materially contribute to violations of longstanding civil rights laws, such as the Ralph and Bane Acts. In reality, SB 771 seeks to punish platforms for the content they algorithmically recommend, even if that content is lawful, protected speech, by labeling the recommendation itself as “conduct” rather than “speech.” That semantic shift doesn’t cure the constitutional problem; it magnifies it. SB 771 tries to argue that when a platform’s algorithm amplifies a third party’s violent or harassing post, the platform is no longer just a conduit but a participant. That theory flies in the face of Section 230’s core promise: that platforms are not liable for third-party content they didn’t create, even if they amplify it. Read an article you think we would be interested in? Send it to Tiffany Donnelly at [email protected]. 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