The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech September 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]. The Courts Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Groups accused of not disclosing Abrams aid sue over ethics probe By James Salzer .....A voter registration group that Stacey Abrams founded and a separate but affiliated organization have filed a federal lawsuit in a move that could end a state ethics commission probe into whether they aided the Democrat’s run for governor in 2018 without disclosing their role. The New Georgia Project and the New Georgia Project Action Fund filed suit Wednesday, saying that the commission is using an unconstitutionally broad definition of a “campaign fund” to allege they raised $4 million and spent $3 million before the 2018 election and illegally failed to disclose it. Portland Press Herald: School district to pay far-right conservative Shawn McBreairty $40,000 in lawsuit By Lana Cohen .....A Bangor-area school district must pay far-right conservative activist Shawn McBreairty $40,000 to settle a federal lawsuit in which McBreairty accused the district’s school board and its chair of violating his First Amendment rights by banning him from attending board meetings and school events. U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen ruled in favor of McBreairty in July, finding the school board’s ban unconstitutional. The financial settlement was handed down Tuesday. In May, Regional School Unit 22, which serves Hampden, Newburgh, Winterport and Frankfort, barred McBreairty from participating in school functions and entering school grounds to attend meetings until Dec. 31, 2022. The ban followed an April school board meeting at which McBreairty played an audio recording of a phone conversation that the school district said contained inappropriate language. Reason: These Emails Show How the Biden Administration's Crusade Against 'Misinformation' Imposes Censorship by Proxy By Jacob Sullum .....The email, which was recently disclosed during discovery in a federal lawsuit that Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed in May, vividly illustrates how the Biden administration engages in censorship by proxy, pressuring social media platforms to implement speech restrictions that would be flagrantly unconstitutional if the government tried to impose them directly. Landry and Schmitt, both Republicans, argue that such pressure violates the First Amendment. Congress The Hill: House Republicans target Meta’s FBI contact over Hunter Biden By Julia Mueller .....House Republicans on Thursday asked Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to hand over communications between Facebook and the FBI related to the platform’s reduced distribution of a New York Post story on Hunter Biden. Zuckerberg previously told podcaster Joe Rogan last week that the social media platform limited the New York Post story’s appearance on news feeds ahead of the 2020 presidential election while it was being fact checked. The limitation, Zuckerberg said, came in response to warnings from the FBI about disinformation and potentially polarizing content. “We have seen in recent months how some in government have sought to use Big Tech to censor divergent viewpoints and silence opposing political speech,” the 35 Republican lawmakers wrote to Zuckerberg in a letter. Reason ("Volokh Conspiracy"): Guardrails of Democracy, Extended: Comparing Notes On The Team Libertarian Report By Walter Olson .....On the topic of elections, we're also in agreement with Team Conservative's observation that campaign finance reforms have backfired and that we should be repealing such laws rather than adding more. But let's also get real: the election world wasted much of 2021 in a battle over whether Democrats would succeed in ramming through an omnibus package expanding these laws yet further. As I've argued, this package, the so-called For The People Act, 1) put its thumb in the eye of libertarian and constitutionalist principle, and 2) was supremely irrelevant to the distinctive challenges of the events leading up to Jan. 6. FEC OpenSecrets: FEC approves rule to remove candidate loan repayment restrictions By Taylor Giorno .....The Federal Election Commission unanimously approved an interim final rule on Wednesday removing regulations that previously restricted the repayment of personal loans candidates made to their campaigns... “It is critical that agency regulations and policies reflect the state of the law, and the Commission has taken a small but important step toward that goal,” Commissioner Sean Cooksey wrote in a statement following the FEC’s Wednesday vote approving the interim final rule to remove the candidate loan repayment restrictions. The final rule is still subject to congressional approval and will go into effect 30 days after it is passed by both chambers. The commission also approved an advisory opinion allowing former Rep. Harley Rouda (D–Calif.) to reinstate and reimburse personal loans to his 2018 campaign using committee funds – “either cash on hand or raised” – for the candidate loan repayment. Donor Exposure People United for Privacy: New York State and a Compliant Media Demonstrate, Again, Hostility to Citizen Privacy .....Once again, Americans are being targeted by their opponents for exercising their First Amendment rights, and sadly, it’s not a surprise. The latest incident likely comes from New York, where someone in the State Attorney General’s office allegedly allowed sensitive donor information to be leaked, possibly illegally, to activists who took the opportunity to publicize this private information and alert their sympathizers in the media. Candidates and Campaigns OpenSecrets: Mary Peltola beats well-funded Republican opponents in special election for Alaska’s House seat By Jorja Siemons .....Former state Rep. Mary Peltola (D) won Alaska’s special election in the U.S. House race that tested the Arctic state’s new ranked-choice voting system — and the limits of big money in an election where every vote counts... [Peltola] was also the lowest fundraiser out of the three candidates. But Peltola received over 91,000 votes across the state — after raising less than $380,000 in campaign funds... Peltola’s largest donation as of Aug. 27 was the Alaska Democratic Party’s $5,000 contribution in May to her special election campaign. She’s also received donations via Democratic fundraising conduit ActBlue, which has helped propel Democrats this midterm cycle. The States KPBS: California lawmakers OK bills aimed at social media content By Don Thompson .....California lawmakers on Tuesday sent Gov. Gavin Newsom two groundbreaking bills intended to limit the downside of social media, as they faulted Congress for failing to act on the problem… [One] measure would require companies to say how they regulate their own content under their social media terms of service. It stalled last year over free speech issues before clearing the Senate on a 33-3 vote and the Assembly, 48-0. It says it is “the intent of the Legislature” that the state attorney general or a city attorney take civil action against violators. While the measure had bipartisan support, Republican Sen. Melissa Melendez in opposition worried that it could be used to punish legitimate but unpopular content, particularly as Attorney General Rob Bonta is a progressive Democrat. “I can't help but wonder if this is not in fact an attempt for the attorney general to perhaps harass the citizens of California, particularly those who have an opposing viewpoint, and I don't think it is appropriate that the state attorney general get involved in any attempt to censor speech," she said during debate Monday night. Reason: California Tries To Make It Illegal for Doctors To Spread COVID-19 'Misinformation' By Robby Soave .....The state of California is attempting to outlaw doctors from communicating what authorities deem COVID-19 "misinformation" to their patients. AB 2089, which passed the California legislature earlier this week, designates the dissemination of "misinformation or disinformation" relating to COVID-19 as "unprofessional conduct" for doctors. The text of the bill explains that its aim is to prevent doctors from giving patients information that contradicts the "contemporary scientific consensus." 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 First Amendment rights to freely speak, assemble, publish, and petition the government. Please support the Institute's mission by clicking here. For further information, visit www.ifs.org. Follow the Institute for Free Speech ‌ ‌ ‌ The Institute for Free Speech | 1150 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 801, Washington, DC 20036 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by [email protected]