Email from The Institute for Free Speech The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech October 28, 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 (gift link): Free Jamie Dimon (and His Employees) By Daniel Shuchman and Bradley A. Smith .....Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, recently said out loud what many in his industry have believed privately for years but, concerned about retribution from regulators, have been unwilling to say in public. “I can’t speak up, and I can’t fight for what I believe” in local and state politics, Mr. Dimon said. “Doesn’t that violate my First Amendment rights?” Mr. Dimon is referring to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s so-called pay-to-play rule. This regulation, promulgated in 2010, effectively prohibits many working in the financial sector from making contributions exceeding $350—and in many cases as little as $150—to any candidate for state or local office who “is directly or indirectly responsible for, or can influence the outcome of, the hiring of an investment adviser by a government entity.” As a practical matter, that means almost any state or municipal elected official is off limits for donations from everyday workers in the financial-services industry, not only moguls like Mr. Dimon. If a “covered associate” at a financial institution—which includes middle managers and employees (along with their direct and indirect supervisors) who solicit government for investment advisory contracts—makes such a contribution, the entire firm is barred from receiving compensation from the government client for two years. Portland Press Herald: Maine’s effort to limit some political contributions now before federal appeals court By Rachel Ohm .....Supporters of a Maine law limiting contributions to political action committees that was struck down by a judge this summer have filed an appeal hoping it will reverse the order and lead to broader campaign finance reform. Maine voters last November approved a referendum putting a $5,000 limit on contributions to so-called super PACs that make independent expenditures. The referendum was approved with nearly 75% of the vote, but was promptly challenged in court by two conservative Maine PACs. A U.S. District Court judge ruled in July that the new limits violate the First Amendment, thus preventing the law from being enforced. Arizona Republic: Arizona law protects First Amendment rights. Maricopa County wants to overturn it By Taylor Seely .....Arizona is one of 38 states that have such laws, plus the District of Columbia. The Institute for Free Speech says the laws "prevent abuse of the legal system by providing additional defenses to those who are sued for exercising their First Amendment rights." The Courts Reason: The 6th Circuit Upholds a School's Sweatshirt Censorship Because 'Let's Go Brandon' Is 'Plainly Vulgar' By Jacob Sullum .....Not so, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled this month in B.A. v. Tri County Schools, "because the school reasonably understood the slogan 'Let's Go Brandon' to be vulgar." Judge John K. Bush vigorously disagreed. "If we allow schools the power to censor political speech by recharacterizing it as vulgarity," he warns in his dissent, "we risk turning disagreement with political speech into justification for its censorship—something the First Amendment flatly forbids." The argument between Bush and his colleagues hinges largely on the question of how much weight should be assigned to the origin of the message on the boys' sweatshirts. When NBC Sports reporter Kelli Stavast interviewed race car driver Brandon Brown after he won a NASCAR contest at Alabama's Talladega Superspeedway on October 2, 2021, the crowd could be heard chanting "Fuck Joe Biden." Stavast either misheard or misrepresented those words, saying, "You can hear the chants from the crowd, 'Let's Go Brandon.'" Just the News: DC man sues after arrested, released for playing 'Star Wars' music behind National Guard in protest By Natalia Mittelstadt .....A Washington, D.C., man filed a lawsuit against a National Guardsman, Metropolitan Police officers, and the District of Columbia after he was arrested and released for playing "Star Wars" music behind the National Guard in protest. The lawsuit was filed by Sam O’Hara’s lawyers in federal district court in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, explaining his detention on Sept. 11, MSNBC reported. O'Hara played “The Imperial March” from “Star Wars,” which is the theme associated with the villain Darth Vader, in various incidents while walking behind Guard members on public streets. Free Expression GovExperts: Are We Losing Our Right to Free Speech? .....Few principles are as essential — or as embattled — as free speech. From college campuses to campaign finance laws, debates over expression and its limits continue to shape American law and politics. In the latest episode of GovExperts Insights, host Chris Britton welcomes Luke Wachob, Senior Director of Communications and Policy at the People United for Privacy Foundation. They engage in a timely discussion about protecting free expression. This is especially relevant in an era of political violence, online censorship, and blurred lines between activism and regulation. Jonathan Turley: Switzerland Goes to War Against Free Speech: Man Jailed for Claiming that Skeletons Reflect Gender .....Brünisholz is reportedly about to start a 10-day prison stint due to his voicing skepticism about claims that skeletons are transgender. There is very little coverage of this story. Free speech cases are often downplayed by European media. So, we have only limited information coming from conservative sites. In 2022, he responded to a Facebook post by Swiss National Council member Andreas Glarner on the controversy. Some, including academics in the United States, are now claiming that you really cannot gauge the sex of individuals from their skeletons. The wind-instrument repairman thought that such claims were unfounded and posted a comment that said, “If you dig up LGBTQI people after 200 years, you’ll only find men and women based on their skeletons. Everything else is a mental illness promoted through the curriculum.” Brünisholz then received a knock on his door from the Burgdorf police and then a prosecution letter for engaging in “hate speech” and “publicly belittling” comments based on sexual orientation under the Swiss Criminal Code. He was convicted and fined 500 Swiss Francs. Conspicuous Cognition: On Highbrow Misinformation By Dan Williams ....Although this narrative comes in different forms, it typically involves three core ideas: (1) misinformation is widespread, (2) it is much worse than in the recent past, and (3) it is highly impactful in driving worrying political trends and developments. By duping large numbers of credulous citizens into believing falsehoods and deranged conspiracy theories, it fuels populism, support for demagogues, and hostility towards democracy and established institutions. I’ve written about many of the problems with this narrative before. For example, it exaggerates both the quality of the past information environment and the gullibility of ordinary voters. In most cases, misinformation and demagogic politics exist because there’s an active market for them, catering to attitudes already prevalent in the population. The narrative is also self-serving. By explaining support for populism as a result of manipulation and misinformation, it exempts establishment institutions from any blame for anti-establishment politics. It also delegitimises all populist concerns, treating the preferences of many voters (e.g., for less immigration or tougher policies on crime) as the result of simple cognitive mistakes. Finally, the idea that “misinformation” is the kind of thing that mainstream journalists and experts can detect and regulate presupposes that misinformation is not a significant problem within their institutions. As many have pointed out, this assumption is highly questionable. There is a substantial amount of what Matt Yglesias calls “elite misinformation”. Online Speech Platforms Washington Post: Elon Musk launches a Wikipedia rival that extols his own ‘vision’ By Will Oremus and Faiz Siddiqui .....Elon Musk on Monday launched an early version of Grokipedia, an online encyclopedia written by AI that the billionaire has touted as a less biased alternative to the venerable online resource Wikipedia. Candidates and Campaigns Democracy Project: Help Legislators Legislate Again By Jonathan H. Adler .....Federal campaign finance laws adopted in the late 20th century have done little to keep money out of politics, but they have had unintended consequences on how Congress functions. Federal campaign finance laws require legislators to fill their war chests primarily through small donations. With individual contribution limits capped at $3,300 per candidate per election, representatives must reach exponentially more donors to raise equivalent funds. It is common for members of Congress to spend two to four hours per day soliciting donations—time that could otherwise be devoted to meeting with constituents or colleagues, developing policy expertise, or working on legislation. Former Senator Alan Simpson captured this problem perfectly: "When we were spending so much time raising money, we simply could not devote quality time to thoughtful decisions and debate. It lowered the substance of our work." The States Gender-Critical Law Society: Freedom of Pronouns By Glenna Goldis, Elspeth Cypher, DIAGdemocrats, and LGB Courage Coalition .....Throughout the US, some judges are waging war on sex-based language. Thanks to their orders and rules, a prosecutor in California must refer to an alleged rapist as “she,” Michigan judges must pretend male sex offenders are women if they say they are, and lawyers in Colorado are encouraged to snitch on each other for failing to use a preferred pronoun. When judges censor sex-based language, they deprive parties of a fair hearing, impartial justice, and free speech. These constitutional rights should never be compromised in the name of manners or social trends. The Gender-Critical Law Society calls on the courts to allow freedom of pronouns in litigation. We have launched a campaign to explain the issue to judges. In August, GCLS sent a letter and legal memo to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. We asked the seven justices to bar pronoun censorship throughout the commonwealth. While Massachusetts is a Democratic stronghold, it’s also a hotbed of gender-critical activism. The state courts there have not systematically banned sex-based language. We’d like them to take the lead in declaring freedom of pronouns. The lead signatories for GCLS were Hon. Elspeth Cypher, who is a retired justice of the SJC, and Glenna Goldis, who practiced law in Massachusetts from 2010 to 2015. Democrats for an Informed Approach for Gender (DIAG), LGB Courage Coalition, and Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) joined GCLS as signatories because they want their Massachusetts members to be able to speak freely in court. You can download the full letter, including the legal memo, here. 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. 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