The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech August 31, 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]. New from the Institute for Free Speech Comments to the FEC Regarding Advisory Opinion Request 2022-12 (Ready for Ron) By Gary Lawkowski .....The Institute for Free Speech submits this comment in support of Draft B in response to Advisory Opinion Request 2022-12 (Ready for Ron, “R4R”). Draft B correctly recognizes that there can be no “contribution” if there is no candidate for federal office. If an individual is not a candidate and is not even “testing the waters” to become a candidate for federal office, the Federal Election Commission has no authority to regulate his/her conduct or that of organizations urging that person to become a federal candidate. Donor Exposure Fox News: Nikki Haley fighting back after nonprofit's tax filings leaked to Politico: 'This is a federal tax crime' By Elizabeth Heckman .....Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said Tuesday on "America's Newsroom" that the Justice Department must investigate the leak of her nonprofit's tax filings... Haley said the filing published by Politico showed that it came from someone in the New York State Attorney General's Office. "We're going to fight this. And we are filing a lawsuit against the New York State Attorney General's Office. We are going to Merrick Garland and saying this is a federal tax crime, and we want him to investigate that office," she told Dana Perino, expressing doubt that Garland will take action. The former South Carolina governor previously argued the move was a bid to intimidate conservative donors… Haley said these types of leaks don't happen to liberal organizations. "You don't see leaks coming out of the ACLU. You don't see leaks coming out of Planned Parenthood. You only see these things happening to conservatives that they perceive to be a threat." FEC New York Times: First, a Complaint to the F.E.C. About Trump in 2024. Now One for Biden, Too. By Blake Hounshell .....A conservative group has filed a complaint against President Biden accusing him of violating federal election law by not officially informing the Federal Election Commission that he plans to run again in 2024... Americans for Public Trust filed the complaint against Mr. Biden on Tuesday... [The] group is asking the commission to investigate whether Mr. Biden is running what [they] described as a “shadow campaign,” using taxpayer money to conduct what in essence are political activities under the guise of official travel to swing states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin... The complaint also details a litany of public statements made by White House officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, indicating that Mr. Biden plans to seek re-election... Ann Ravel, a Democratic former commissioner at the F.E.C., said she found the complaint about Mr. Biden’s putative candidacy “persuasive.” Ms. Ravel, who has long been an outspoken critic of the commission, which consists of three members appointed by each of the two major political parties, added that “of all the government agencies, the F.E.C. is probably the most dysfunctional of all.” Free Expression Jonathan Turley: University of North Carolina Study Finds Conservative Students Engage in Self-Censorship on Campus .....The UNC surveyed students from eight UNC institutions and found the same sharp contrast. Only seven percent of liberal students were concerned about how their professor’s ideology would affect their grades while that rate is 6 times higher for conservatives at 42 percent. Sixty-eight percent of conservatives were worried about sharing their views with other students (as opposed to 31 percent among liberal students). The authors also concluded that a “significant number of students have concerns about stating their sincere political views in class and have self-censored because they were concerned about the potential reactions.” The States Law & Crime: Arizona Judge Rips Rep. Paul Gosar and Other Republicans for Filing Defamation Lawsuit ‘Primarily for Purposes of Harassment’ By Adam Klasfeld .....Republican Rep. Paul Gosar and two GOP state representatives must pay more than $75,000 for filing a defamation lawsuit against a Democratic lawmaker “primarily for the purposes of harassment,” an Arizona judge ruled. Joining forces with Arizona state Reps. Mark Finchem and Anthony Kern as co-plaintiffs, Gosar sued the Grand Canyon State’s Democratic Rep. Charlene Fernandez in Yuma County Supreme Court last year. Fernandez had joined 41 Arizona lawmakers in asking federal law enforcement to investigate whether they had an involvement or participation in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol... “The Court finds that Plaintiffs’ lawsuit against Defendant was brought for an improper purpose, having been filed against a political opponent primarily for purposes of harassment,” the order states... Read the order, below: Washington Examiner: Ohio bakery's $25M payment from Oberlin College survives court decision By Kaelan Deese .....Ohio's Supreme Court will not hear an appeal of a $25 million judgment against Oberlin College in a lawsuit brought by owners of Gibson’s Bakery, who claimed they were libeled and wrongly accused of being racist by the school after a shoplifting incident. Justices on the state Supreme Court denied the school's appeal without explanation, according to court records. The decision comes after an appeals court upheld a $25 million judgment for the bakery, which succeeded in its claim it was wrongfully labeled racist. MLive: Term limit proposal opponent group broke campaign finance law, complaint says By Ben Orner .....The League of Women Voters has filed a Michigan campaign finance complaint against an opposition group for Proposal 1, saying the group should have gone through the legal process to file as an official opponent… The League of Women Voters, which supports Prop 1, argues in its complaint to the Michigan Department of State that U.S. Term Limits broke the law because it is not registered as a ballot question committee despite advocating against the proposal, nor does the group include a “paid for by” disclosure on its materials… U.S. Term Limits maintains a website criticizing Prop 1 that includes videos, articles, podcast episodes and a mailing list signup. This site, MichiganScam.com, has also been featured on a large “Trojan Horse” figure brought to Board of State Canvassers meetings. But Scott Tillman, national field director for the Washington-based group that advocates for term limits in Congress and state legislatures, says U.S. Term Limits is not raising money against Prop 1. “It seems that they’re saying somehow you should have to file with the state if you talk about a political issue on your podcast? That seems a little bit ridiculous to me,” he said. Washington Post: Judge thwarts Va. Republicans’ effort to limit book sales at Barnes & Noble By Hannah Natanson .....A Virginia judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by two Republicans that sought to limit how bookstores and public school libraries could distribute two books to minors, closing — at least temporarily — an unusual commercial strategy in the campaign to protect students from literature conservatives say is not age-appropriate… In her order dismissing the lawsuit, Judge Pamela Baskervill concluded that part of Virginia’s state law dealing with obscenity is unconstitutional... In her ruling, Baskervill said the law violates the First Amendment by enabling governmental censorship and by assuming that anyone distributing an obscene book must be consciously deciding to break the law, when in fact these people might “have no knowledge that a book may be considered obscene.” The law “imposes a presumption of scienter,” or knowledge that one’s actions are wrong, Baskervill wrote. 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