Email from The Institute for Free Speech The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech October 10, 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 Wall Street Journal: IRS Scandal Makes It to Court By Bradley A. Smith and Eric Wang .....It’s a major free-speech victory nearly 15 years in the making. In the case, Freedom Path v. IRS, Judge Jia M. Cobb, a Biden appointee, concluded what the nonprofit community has long known: The IRS rules concerning whether certain nonprofit organizations have engaged in too much political activity are unworkable and unconstitutionally vague. At the heart of the case is Section 501(c)(4) of the tax code, which mainly addresses social-welfare organizations and advocacy groups. Under IRS rules, a 501(c)(4) organization must be “primarily engaged” in promoting the “common good and general welfare” of society, but not “political campaign” activity. The problem Freedom Path and other 501(c)(4)s face is simple: They can’t tell what’s legal. The IRS has never defined how much political activity is too much. And even if a group knew the amount of political activity allowed as a percentage of total activities, it still wouldn’t know what qualifies as political. The agency uses an open-ended 11-factor test to determine what counts as “political activity,” without explaining how these factors are weighted or applied. Florida Today (via Yahoo): Brevard school board talks $10K superintendent bonus, lawsuit settlement, school safety By Finch Walker .....In a move hashed out prior to the meeting, the board approved a settlement agreement with Moms for Liberty, one of the last steps in a years-long legal battle over a previous public comments policy. The draft agreement says that Brevard Public Schools owes $567,990.19 to the Institute for Free Speech and David Osborne at Goldstein Law Partners, LLC, both representatives of Moms for Liberty. Congress Washington Post: Trump is complicating the GOP’s anti-censorship campaign By Naomi Nix and Will Oremus .....At a Wednesday Senate hearing, Democrats and Republicans agreed that such “jawboning” of private companies and institutions is a threat to democracy — but couldn’t agree on which party’s president was to blame. While Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri) sought to focus the hearing on what he called the “vast censorship regime perpetrated by the Biden administration,” the committee’s Democrats swiftly dismissed the claim. Calling the hearing’s focus “a farce,” Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Massachusetts) accused the Trump administration of waging “a war on free speech that this country has not seen since the McCarthy era in the 1950s.” The combative exchanges illustrated how Trump’s second term has scrambled partisan fault lines in the long-standing debate over how tech companies police online speech. House Judiciary Committee Democrats: Ranking Members Raskin, Scott Demand Federal Criminal Investigation Into Trump Administration Commandeering Federal Employee Emails to Compel Political Speech .....Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Robert C. “Bobby" Scott, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Education & Workforce, are demanding that the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigate the Trump Administration commandeering the email accounts of furloughed career civil servants to send partisan out-of-office messages, in violation of the First Amendment and criminal law. Trump Administration USA Today: Trump says he 'took the freedom of speech away' on flag burning By BrieAnna J. Frank .....President Donald Trump on Oct. 8 said his administration "took the freedom of speech away" as it relates to flag burnings, an activity that the Supreme Court has ruled is protected under the First Amendment. “We took the freedom of speech away, because that’s been through the courts, and the courts said you have freedom of speech but what has happened is when they burn the flag it agitates and irritates crowds,” Trump said during a roundtable discussion on antifa. “I’ve never seen anything like it, on both sides, and you end up with riots.” Washington Examiner: FARA could be the Soros network’s Achilles’ heel By Steve Roberts and Nicole Kelly .....President Donald Trump‘s bold action to root out foreign sources of domestic unrest marks a return to the types of investigations the Department of Justice has long ignored. In his recent memorandum, “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” Trump pinpointed multinational organizations, nonprofit groups, and American citizens with close ties to foreign governments, agents, citizens, foundations, or influence networks as likely focuses for review. And, as he identified, the Foreign Agents Registration Act is just the tool to do it. Enacted in the late 1930s, in an era when German and Soviet propaganda were creating chaos in the American political system and leading to violent clashes such as the 1939 Madison Square Garden rally, FARA’s intent was to show who was working to sway public opinion or government officials on behalf of foreign entities and governments. Trump’s directive is squarely in line with this same intent. It creates a National Joint Terrorism Task Force that will, in part, hold accountable those who are promoting domestic unrest at the behest of a foreign government, foreign billionaire, or their scion, all while failing to tell the world about who is paying and for what. Free Expression Reason: 2 Controversies Over Political Rhetoric Illustrate the Perils of Blaming Gun Control Critics for Murder By Jacob Sullum .....If you oppose "common-sense gun safety legislation," politicians and activists who favor new restrictions on firearms often suggest, you have blood on your hands. Both Jay Jones, the Democratic candidate for Virginia attorney general, and Joshua Bregy, the former Clemson University faculty member who was fired for sharing a Facebook post about the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, embraced that argument, which is not just logically fallacious but poisonous to rational debate. Jones, whose bloodthirsty private remarks about his political opponents recently came to light, has received well-earned criticism for fantasizing about the deaths of people who disagree with him, which he now describes as a "grave mistake." The employment consequences that Bregy faced, by contrast, seem like a clear violation of his First Amendment rights, since he was dismissed by a state university for political speech unrelated to his work responsibilities. But both cases involve a sentiment that is disturbingly common among advocates of gun control. Washington Post: Professor who teaches about antifascism moves to Europe after death threats By Anumita Kaur .....Faced with a stream of death threats, a Rutgers University history professor who teaches about antifascism said he is moving out of the United States just a month into the fall semester. Mark Bray, who has taught at Rutgers since 2019, told his students Sunday that his courses would move online immediately. Washington Legal Foundation: WLF Launches Video Shorts Series to Demystify Complex Legal Principles .....The Washington Legal Foundation (WLF), a national public-interest law firm and legal policy center, has launched two new educational video series—The Plain Meaning and Law Made Simple—to make complex legal and regulatory issues more accessible to a broader audience... The first video, released today, is part of The Plain Meaning series and unpacks the concept of commercial speech—a cornerstone of the First Amendment that protects truthful communication between businesses and consumers. Future videos will explore topics such as compelled speech, preemption, and regulatory overreach. All episodes will be available on WLF’s website, YouTube, and LinkedIn — presented in a short, easy-to-share format designed to educate and engage a broad audience. Online Speech Platforms CNBC: YouTube will give banned creators a ‘second chance’ after rule rollback By Zach Vallese .....YouTube is offering creators who were banned from the platform a second chance. On Thursday, the Google-owned platform announced it is rolling out a feature for previously terminated creators to apply to create a new channel. Previous rules led to a lifetime ban. “We know many terminated creators deserve a second chance,” wrote the YouTube Team in a blog post. “We’re looking forward to providing an opportunity for creators to start fresh and bring their voice back to the platform.” The States Wisconsin Public Radio: Wisconsin GOP bill aims to clamp down on credit card campaign contributions By Rich Kremer .....Republican lawmakers are pushing a bill to bar any political party or candidate from accepting online credit card donations unless the contributor provides a verification code and U.S. address. The bill is part of growing right-wing scrutiny of the Democratic fundraising juggernaut ActBlue, fueled in large part by President Donald Trump. ActBlue has called the allegations politically motivated. During a public hearing before the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections on Wednesday, questions were raised about how the state could enforce the requirement and whether it would stop potential foreign contributions. The measure’s sponsors, Rep. Dave Murphy, R-Greenville, and Sen. Cory Tomczyk, R-Mosinee, touted their bill as an election integrity measure... Their bill is based on model legislation from the conservative Wisconsin Faith and Freedom Coalition, which has accused ActBlue of processing billions of dollars worth of “unverified contributions.” It would prohibit political committees, conduits and parties from accepting donations made with a credit card unless the donor provides a credit card verification value, or CVV, and a U.S. billing address. Lexington Herald Leader: Are KY man’s Halloween decorations protected by First Amendment? What experts say By Taylor Six .....A Powell County man was arrested this week after displaying Halloween decorations that depicted the “bodies” of five public officials. He was charged Oct. 4 with terroristic threatening and intimidating a witness in the legal process. But First Amendment experts in Kentucky say the display may be a protected form of political speech. Stephan Marcum, 58, was arrested after police say he displayed five bodies in trash bags on his front lawn. One of the bags, labeled “District Judge,” was arranged so the body in the bag appeared to be hanging by its neck. The other bags were labeled “Mayor” “SIS,” “C.A.” and “Zoning Mgr,” according to the citation. Tallahassee Democrat: Police visit over 'You lack values' postcard sparks First Amendment debate By Stephany Matat .....Minutes before 9 a.m. on Oct. 1, Catherine O'Gara's morning was overwhelmed by two sounds: Loud knocks on the door of her Pinellas County home, and the barking from her Australian shepherd, Red. Of all reasons to open the door, she didn't expect two armed police officers. They were looking, it turns out, for her husband James. It was all over a postcard that said only, "YOU LACK VALUES," in the ink of a large black marker. The recipient? Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia. 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." 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