The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech September 8, 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 Institute for Free Speech Welcomes Research Fellow Alec Greven .....The Institute for Free Speech is excited to announce that Alec Greven is joining the organization as a Research Fellow. Alec previously worked at IFS for two summers as a Research Intern and now joins IFS full-time after completing his Master of Public Policy at the University of Oxford. While in Oxford, Alec conducted original research on international legal protections for free expression rights and strategies for digital content moderation that can preserve free expression online. During his fellowship at the Institute, Alec will conduct original research and build a research portfolio on pressing First Amendment issues. “Free expression is the most fundamental and important of all our constitutional values. It supports and preserves our system of free government. I am excited for the opportunity to defend these basic political rights for everyone and investigate where we are currently falling short of our country’s ideals,” Alec said. Alec’s most recent research at the Institute documents the existing literature on the Supreme Court’s appearance of corruption legal standard from the Buckley v. Valeo decision. The Courts ABC News: Federal grand jury probing Trump PAC's formation, fundraising efforts: Sources By Katherine Faulders and John Santucci .....A federal grand jury investigating the activities leading up the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and the push by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the result of the 2020 election has expanded its probe to include seeking information about Trump's leadership PAC, Save America, sources with direct knowledge tell ABC News. The interest in the fundraising arm came to light as part of grand jury subpoenas seeking documents, records and testimony from potential witnesses, the sources said. The subpoenas, sent to several individuals in recent weeks, are specifically seeking to understand the timeline of Save America's formation, the organization's fundraising activities, and how money is both received and spent by the Trump-aligned PAC. Reason ("Volokh Conspiracy"): Extra Discovery Allowed in States' Lawsuit Claiming Government "Colluded with and/or Coerced Social Media" By Eugene Volokh .....Judge Terry Doughty's opinion yesterday in Missouri v. Biden (W.D. La.) discusses various matters that came out in various ways, but has this to say about perhaps the highest-profile question: Free Expression Breitbart: Glenn Greenwald Slams Corrupt, Pro-Censorship Corporate News Industry By Lucas Nolan .....Journalist Glenn Greenwald recently took to Twitter to outline how he believes leftists are methodically and systematically stifling dissent through coordination with various elements of the state and media. The Atlantic: The Right-Wing War on Free Speech Could Backfire By Adam Serwer .....Overturning Times v. Sullivan would undoubtedly have a chilling effect on free speech. We can infer this simply from the era before Times v. Sullivan, during which public officials—many of them segregationists—used libel law to stifle criticism of their official conduct, a practice that weighed heavily on the unanimous majority in Sullivan. Fox News’s chief executive is currently suing an outlet in Australia that has been critical of the network’s coverage of the 2020 election, taking advantage of the absence of speech protections it is eagerly availing itself of in the United States. This is how good legal representation works, but it also reflects an approach to free speech that is more mercenary than principled. Even if they were unsuccessful in intimidating large outlets such as the Times or the Post, wealthy and powerful people would likely find it much simpler to use the threat of litigation to silence those without deep pockets or institutional support... Without the actual-malice standard, the strong would likely find it easier to silence the weak. National Review: Columbia, UPenn among Worst Colleges for Free Speech, Report Finds By Caroline Downey .....Several of the most selective universities in the U.S., including two Ivy League schools, rank among the worst colleges in the country for free speech, according to a recent assessment that factored in student responses, guest-speaker disinvitations, incidents of faculty sanctioning, and restrictive-speech policies. The collaborative survey, released Wednesday by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and College Pulse, put Columbia University in last place for free speech and the University of Pennsylvania in second to last. Georgetown University was determined to be the fourth most hostile campus to free speech. Online Speech Platforms Axios: Scoop: Dems' accidental GOP data mine By Lachlan Markay .....A slip-up by social media giant Snap allowed leading Democratic campaigns and party committees to unwittingly tap into a vast repository of Republican voter data to hone their midterm ads, Axios has learned. The States Los Angeles Times: California aims to shut up bullies and other bad actors so democracy can thrive By Mark Z. Barabak .....The result is a new California law that will make it easier to conduct the public’s business by spelling out just how and when bullies, bad actors and dangerous belligerents can be ejected so that school boards, city councils and other local government entities can do their work. The recently enacted legislation, Senate Bill 1100, amends the 69-year-old Brown Act, which requires local governments to convene their meetings in public and guarantees the right of people to attend and participate. Among other changes, it defines the meaning of “disrupting” — threatening the use of force, willfully ignoring rules of conduct — and gives the presiding officer the power to oust unruly individuals after they’ve received a warning... The legislation is not, its co-author emphasized, an effort to muzzle dissent or keep anyone from speaking their mind as vociferously as they’d like. 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. 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