The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech August 2, 2022 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 Luke Wachob at [email protected]. We're Hiring! Senior Attorney – Institute for Free Speech – Washington, DC or Virtual Office .....The Institute for Free Speech is hiring a Senior Attorney with a minimum of seven years of experience. The location for this position is either at our Washington, D.C. office or remotely anywhere in the United States. This is a rare opportunity to work with a growing team to litigate a long-term legal strategy directed toward the protection of Constitutional rights. We challenge laws, practices, and policies that infringe upon First Amendment freedoms, such as speech codes that censor parents at school board meetings, laws restricting people’s ability to give and receive campaign contributions, and any intrusion into people’s private political associations. You would work to hold censors accountable; and to secure legal precedents clearing away a thicket of laws, regulations, and practices that suppress speech about government and candidates for political office, threaten citizens’ privacy if they speak or join groups, and impose heavy burdens on political activity. The Courts Carolina Journal: Stein, Freeman file competing briefs in case of disputed N.C. law against campaign lies .....Lawyers representing N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein and Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman offered opposing written arguments Monday in a dispute involving a state law against campaign lies. Both sides in the case filed new documents for U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles. She could decide as early as Thursday whether to extend a temporary restraining order she issued last week. That July 25 order blocks enforcement of the law. A new preliminary injunction from Eagles would stop Freeman from pursuing any charges related to the law until the entire legal dispute has been resolved. “Plaintiffs contend that Defendant cannot ‘show cause … why this restraining order should not be continued as a preliminary injunction to the final adjudication of this cause,’ because N.C. Gen. Stat. § 163-274(a)(9) – the Statute sought to be enforced by Defendant – abridges First Amendment freedom of speech by seeking to regulate core political speech in a manner not tailored to achieve a compelling state interest,” according to a memorandum from Pressly Millen. He represents Stein’s campaign organization, the company that prepares Stein’s television ads, and Juliette Grimmett, who appeared in the campaign ad that generated the legal controversy. Washington Post: Judge refuses to dismiss suit against DMV over vanity tag By Randall Chase, AP News .....A federal judge on Monday refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed against Delaware government officials who recalled a vanity license plate issued to a breast cancer survivor because of what the state transportation secretary described as a “perceived profanity.” The judge said in a ruling that the lawsuit by Kari Lynn Overington of Milton raises a “significant constitutional issue.” Congress RealClearPolitics: Will Congress Close the Foreign-Donor Loophole? By Susan Crabtree .....With so much recent finger-pointing in Washington over foreign influence in U.S. elections, it seems as if lawmakers would be doing everything they could to try to close loopholes that allow illegal political donations from China, Russia, and other overseas interests into U.S. campaigns without detection. A group of GOP House members introduced legislation to do just that as far back as 2015. Their bill attracted significant bipartisan support, but stalled amid partisan sniping over Democrats’ pursuit of the now-discredited Trump-Russia collusion allegations. The effort picked up some steam in recent weeks when two vulnerable House Democrats folded those provisions into a broader bill aimed at combatting foreign influence in U.S. politics. Although reformers are hopeful it will pass later this year, powerful forces oppose cleaning up the system. FEC Federal Election Commission: Steven T. Walther retires from the Commission .....Vice Chair Steven T. Walther has retired from the Commission after 16 years of service. Vice Chair Walther’s FEC legacy includes a dedication to improving due process and procedural fairness, a commitment to increasing public disclosure and transparency concerning agency actions, and a devotion to promoting democratic institutions worldwide. Vice Chair Walther was first sworn in as a Commissioner on January 10, 2006, as a recess appointee. On June 24, 2008, he was confirmed unanimously by the Senate and sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on June 27, 2008 to resume the balance of his statutory term. He served as Vice Chair for the balance of 2008, in the second half of 2020, and again for the first seven months of 2022. He served as Chair of the Commission in 2009 and in 2017... “We will lose a unique and valuable voice when Steven T. Walther departs the Federal Election Commission,” said Chairman Allen Dickerson. “For over a decade and a half, the American people have been well served by his independent viewpoint and deep practical experience.” ... Vice Chair Walther announced in January that he would depart the Commission this year. He will be succeeded by Dara Lindenbaum. Free Expression Insider: Opposition and setbacks are hamstringing a progressive group trying to overturn Citizens United with a constitutional convention By Brent D. Griffiths and Grace Panetta .....Some progressives also want to use an unprecedented method of re-writing the Constitution to reshape American politics. But unlike conservatives, they're encountering much more vocal opposition from their own side. Wolf PAC, an organization with ties to progressive commentator and The Young Turks founder Cenk Uygur, has been met with stiff opposition from the vast majority of center-left and good government groups who support campaign finance reform as it seeks a convention that would change limit money in politics. "All of the establishment Democrats like the corruption, it is what gave them power in the first place," Uygur told Insider, railing against what he views as a coordinated effort to sink Wolf PAC's convention push... Nonprofit government watchdog group Common Cause has been one of Wolf PAC's leading opponents, successfully lobbying behind the scenes to convince state lawmakers that any constitutional convention — no matter its stated purpose — leads to chaos and unintended consequences. Link via Yahoo News Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): Anti-BDS Laws' Certification Requirements By Eugene Volokh .....Michael Dorf, Andrew Koppelman, and I have written elsewhere about why we think laws banning government contractors from refusing to deal with Israeli companies are generally constitutional. In this respect, we think such bans are like the government barring universities that get government funds from excluding military recruiters from recruitment fairs, or barring businesses that get government funds (and even ones that don't) from discriminating based on race, religion, etc. Refusals to deal are unprotected conduct, not protected speech... Some people, however, have objected to a different provision of the laws: that contractors certify that they aren't boycotting Israeli companies through such refusals to deal. This certification, some have argued, is itself an impermissible speech compulsion. I think that's mistaken; these requirements are like any other contractual provisions on which the government insists (in particular, like contractual warranties). The Arkansas anti-BDS law, for instance, provides, Epoch Times: ‘Excessive Engagement in Politics’ Causing Mass Exodus From Nation’s Largest Labor Unions: Analysts By Patricia Tolson .....According to a recent watchdog report, the nation’s largest public service employees union spent $1 out of every $5 in revenue collected through union dues on politics in 2021... “There have been a lot of surveys out there about how union members feel about their union’s involvement in politics, and in general, they don’t want their unions to be heavily involved in politics, especially in issues that have nothing to do with their daily work lives,” Bates said. PACs Washington Free Beacon: Pet Project: BLM Activist Shaun King Used Donor Funds To Buy $40k Thoroughbred Show Dog By Chuck Ross .....Grassroots Law PAC, which [activist Shaun King] founded to elect soft-on-crime local officials, paid roughly $40,000 since December to the California-based Potrero Performance Dogs, according to campaign finance disclosures. The payments are labeled for "contractor services," making their purpose difficult to discern. But days after a $30,650 payment in February, King welcomed a "new member of the King family": an award-winning mastiff bred by Potrero named Marz. King, who has been hounded for years by allegations of fraud, has not been accused of any wrongdoing in relation to Grassroots Law. But the payments for a dog raises questions about whether the former Bernie Sanders surrogate is using PAC contributions the way donors intended... Grassroots Law PAC, which aims to "elect candidates who are committed to reducing mass incarceration and police violence," has spent nearly as much on King's pet as it has on political candidates. The PAC has contributed around $56,000 to political candidates since 2021. It paid $10,000 to Potrero in December and another $30,650 on Feb. 16. Candidates and Campaigns Politico: The nasty primary roiling Arizona politics By Joseph Gedeon .....An ugly race marred by lawsuits, Federal Election Commission complaints and next-level name-calling between a Republican congressman and a wealthy primary challenger is careening toward an uncertain finish Tuesday in Arizona. Both are floating accusations of the other tearing down campaign yard signs and breaking the law, either for being the “Robocall King” or for violating campaign finance laws. But only one will be the Republican nominee for the newly 1st District in Arizona, a newly redrawn district that tilts to the political center — but has first seen a massive primary brawl take place on the right… Norton is one of only a handful of challengers nationwide who has outspent an incumbent, albeit with the overwhelming majority of cash comes from self-funding loans. FEC filings show Norton has spent $4.3 million in the primary, close to the amount of money he directed into his own campaign. Schweikert, according to the most recent disclosures, has spent $1.2 million himself this election cycle. Common Sense: Why the Democrats Are Funding My Far-Right Opponent By Peter Meijer .....Tomorrow I’m facing off against John Gibbs in the Republican primary for Michigan’s Third Congressional District. The race is close. Internal polling has us within single digits of one another. But Gibbs and I couldn’t be more different… Since the election of Donald Trump—and especially since January 6—Democrats have claimed that democracy is under grave threat. Party leaders like Sean Maloney, the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, have claimed that we are in an existential conflict between defenders of democracy and advocates of authoritarianism. “It’s not just about Trump,” Rep. Maloney said late last month on MSNBC. “It’s about a MAGA Republican movement that is defined by serious, serious things like the attack on our democracy.” He warned: “It’s going to be those MAGA Republicans who take away your rights, your benefits and your freedoms.” So you would think that the Democrats would look at John Gibbs and see the embodiment of what they say they most fear. That as patriots they would use every tool at their disposal to defeat him and similar candidates that they’ve said are an existential threat. Instead they are funding Gibbs. The States Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia ethics panel says groups should have disclosed spending on Abrams By James Salzer .....The state ethics commission on Monday decided there’s probable cause to believe nonprofits raised and spent possibly millions of dollars to back Stacey Abrams’ unsuccessful 2018 gubernatorial bid without disclosing it. Under Georgia law, groups advocating for candidates must disclose contributions and expenditures on a regular basis. The case heard Monday is the biggest so far filed by the commission’s staff in a long-running investigation into Abrams and groups who supported her in 2018, and the ethics panel’s initial decision comes a little more than three months before the general election, when Abrams will again face off against Gov. Brian Kemp. The ethics complaint was filed against the New Georgia Project, a voter registration group that Abrams founded, and what the commission called a separate but affiliated organization, the New Georgia Project Action Fund. It says the groups raised $4 million and spent $3 million before the 2018 election and should have registered as independent political committees and publicly disclosed the money. The commission staff says the groups hired canvassers, passed out literature, promoted Abrams’ candidacy — and the candidacy of other candidates — and solicited contributions. They also said the groups raised and spent money to support the push to bring MARTA to Gwinnett County in 2019. 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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