November 20, 2025

Ed. Note: The Media Update will return Tuesday, Nov 25.

In the News

Wisconsin Newspaper Association: Legislators reintroduce anti-SLAPP bill

.....More than 60% of the U.S. population lives in a state that provides “good” protection from SLAPP cases, according to a 2025 report from the Institute for Free Speech, a Washington-based non-profit dedicated to the First Amendment. 

If you live in Wisconsin, you’re not among that protected majority. Thirty-eight states and Washington have “a functioning anti-SLAPP statute,” reads the report, which ranked states from A to F based on the strength of their anti-SLAPP protections. Wisconsin is among 12 states, including Michigan, that do not provide any anti-SLAPP protections. Minnesota and Iowa have A ratings. 

The Courts

BakerHostetler: Courts Revisit the Rules for Section 501(c)(4) Political Activity and Exempt Status

By Alexander L. Reid, Allen J. Dickerson, Andrew M. Grossman, Kristin A. Shapiro, and Allison D. Tuck

.....The law concerning federal limits on political advocacy by nonprofit organizations continues to evolve. For Section 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations, two federal court decisions, issued nearly a year apart, have unsettled both the constitutional footing and practical rules governing their activities. These decisions suggest that the IRS’s rules for political activity may be too vague to survive constitutional scrutiny, even as courts redefine “social welfare” in narrower terms.

The resulting tension could force significant changes in how these organizations engage in lobbying, advocacy and political activity. Until it is resolved, Section 501(c)(4) organizations operate in a narrowing corridor, caught between constitutional limits on the government’s ability to regulate political speech and tax limits on exempt status.

Campaign Legal Center: Independent Agencies Must Remain Independent

By Emily Burns and Maha Quadri

.....For decades, Congress has used its legislative authority to create independent agencies that operate free from direct control of the president. Now, President Donald Trump seeks to flout these congressional mandates by insisting that the president have control of all facets of these agencies.

The president's attempted power grab over independent agencies has been challenged in court. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in a case concerning the unlawful removal of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter. 

A broad ruling in the Trump administration's favor would set a new legal precedent that could have disastrous consequences for the checks and balances that uphold our system.

Campaign Legal Center (CLC), joined by CLC president and former Republican Chairman of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) Trevor Potter, has filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to consider the effect that dramatically expanding presidential power would have on the independent agencies that regulate our elections.  

Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): No Restraining Order Blocking High School Turning Point USA Event, "Two Genders: One Truth"

By Eugene Volokh

.....From Doe v. Albemarle County School Bd., decided yesterday by Judge Jasmine Yoon (W.D. Va.):

Election Law Blog: 11th Circuit Affirms District Court’s Dismissal of Trump’s Defamation Case Against CNN

By Tabatha Abu El-Haj

.....In an unpublished per curiam opinion, the 11th Circuit affirmed the District Court’s dismissal with prejudice of Donald Trump’s defamation suit against Cable News Network, Inc. (CNN) based on the use of the phrase “Big Lie” to describe his claims about the 2020 elections. A few quick highlights:

Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): Again with the Heckler's Veto in a Government Employee Speech Case

By Eugene Volokh

.....Brown, who worked at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reposted this item from an Instagram account that "posts satirical social commentary from the perspective of a whale":

Congress

National Review: Jasmine Crockett, Reckless Moron

By Jim Geraghty

.....Democratic Representative Jasmine Crockett of Texas — a likely Senate candidate in 2026 — was convinced she had really nailed prominent Republicans for accepting donations from the notorious Jeffrey Epstein.

“Folks who also took money from somebody named Jeffrey Epstein, as I had my team dig in very quickly, Mitt Romney. The NRCC. Lee Zeldin. George Bush. WinRed. McCain-Palin. Rick Lazio. I just want to be clear, if this is the standard that we gonna make, just know we’re gonna expose it all. And know that the FEC filings, they are available for everyone to review.”

Crockett should fire her “team,” because at least in the case of Zeldin and likely in other cases, the donations are from other people named Jeffrey Epstein, not the notorious sex trafficker. In several cases, the donations from the person with that name occurred after the notorious sex trafficker died.

Free Expression

Spiked: Our free-speech documentary has been cancelled

By Tom Slater

.....You would think that banning a documentary about free speech would be a bad look for a cultural institution. But that’s precisely what Rich Mix in east London has just done.

We were all set to hold the premiere of our documentary, Think Before You Post, about the rise of the British speech police, at Rich Mix on Tuesday 25 November. But last night, we received an email saying the venue would be ‘terminating [our] booking contract’.

‘Since confirming your booking, it has come to light that the content and speakers featured do not align with our values and mission here at Rich Mix’, reads the email. ‘Our founding objectives are to support marginalised communities (primarily communities facing racial inequity), promote intercultural understanding, eliminate racial discrimination, and foster equality of opportunity through arts and culture.’

Those of you who have watched the documentary might be wondering what this is getting at. After all, the film is about the people who have been arrested, prosecuted and even held on remand for alleged speechcrime – even though they hadn’t said anything the least bit hateful.

The States

Jonesing for Nonprofits: Republic of Texas Declares U.S. Nonprofit a Foreign Terrorist Organization

By Darryl K. Jones

.....[O]n Tuesday, Texas Governor Gregg Abbott issued a proclamation declaring CAIR a foreign terrorist organization. The proclamation accuses CAIR of being a “front group” for Hamas with aims to install “Sharia law” in the United States and throughout the world. The proclamation asserts that several CAIR officials or affiliates have been convicted of supporting terrorism.

CAIR responded immediately, calling the Governor’s proclamation “defamatory” and devoid of legal or factual justification.

Carolina Journal: NC’s donor privacy act came at just the right time

By Heather Lauer

.....This year’s appalling rise in political violence shows why the General Assembly was right to overturn Gov. Josh Stein’s veto of The Personal Privacy Protection Act. Doxing, threats, and violence have become serious national problems. Enhanced privacy protections for North Carolinians can be part of the solution.

Tennessee Lookout:  Politics Tennessee Registry orders pardoned House staffer to explain troubled PAC

By Sam Stockard

.....Tennessee’s campaign finance watchdog is ordering a former House staff member — recently pardoned after conviction in a corruption case — to testify about a political action committee he secretly formed in 2020 to sway the election.

The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance voted Tuesday to drop a subpoena against ex-chief of staff Cade Cothren and, instead, bring him in next year to explain his actions in forming the Faith Family Freedom Fund. 

Registry Chairman Tom Lawless said Cothren sent fraudulent documents, including a treasurer’s report and several emails, to the Registry when he formed the political action committee.

In 2022, the Registry board subpoenaed Cothren, who worked for former House Speaker Glen Casada, after a former girlfriend, Sydney Friedopfer, testified he asked her to form the political action committee so he could run it secretly. She also said in telephone testimony that Cothren told her she didn’t need to worry about responding to questions from the Registry.

Cothren refused to comply with the subpoena, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The Registry board sent the matter to the Attorney General’s office, which took it to Chancery Court to be enforced. It languished there until Cothren’s federal corruption case wrapped up with a pardon by President Donald Trump following a conviction on multiple charges involving a bogus campaign vendor.

Regardless of whether Cothren refuses to show up and talk to the board, it could levy a civil penalty against him. And if Cothren refuses to pay the penalty, he would be ineligible to run for a state office, according to Bill Young, executive director of the Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance.