October 13, 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 [email protected].

The Courts

Politico: Judge dismisses DOJ bid to force Wynn to register as foreign agent

By Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein

.....A federal judge dismissed a Justice Department effort to force Las Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn to acknowledge a stint as an agent of the Chinese government, contending that the government has no power to require such a disclosure after the purported foreign relationship had ended.

U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg expressed reservations about his own ruling issued Wednesday but suggested that long-standing appeals court precedent bars DOJ from requiring foreign agents to retroactively register once they are no longer performing that work.

If the ruling stands, it could deal a serious blow to the Justice Department’s effort to crack down on undisclosed foreign influence campaigns in the U.S. and could undercut DOJ’s ability to use the threat of a civil enforcement action to cajole lobbyists and others into registering under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Carolina Journal: Wake D.A.’s latest 4th Circuit filing defends N.C. law against campaign lies

.....Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman defends North Carolina’s law against campaign lies. It’s the latest round of a legal battle with state Attorney General Josh Stein in the federal courts.

“Plaintiffs (an elected official, his campaign, and others associated with his campaign) contend that the First Amendment gives a politician a constitutional right to knowingly lie to the public about his political opponent to gain an advantage in an election, such that a State cannot bar a politician from doing so by statute. The district court correctly rejected Plaintiffs’ claim,” wrote attorney Joseph Zeszotarski, in a brief filed Tuesday in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Zeszotarski represents Freeman’s office in a case titled Grimmett v. Freeman.

New York Times: Alex Jones Ordered to Pay Sandy Hook Victims’ Families Nearly $1 Billion

By Elizabeth Williamson

.....The families of eight Sandy Hook shooting victims on Wednesday won nearly $1 billion in damages from the Infowars fabulist Alex Jones, a devastating blow against his empire and a message from the jury that his lies and those of his followers have crippling consequences.

Independent Groups & Nonprofits

New York Times: Leonard Leo Pushed the Courts Right. Now He’s Aiming at American Society.

By Kenneth P. Vogel

.....Most of the initiatives were financially supported, or in some cases launched, by an opaque, sprawling network shaped by Mr. Leo and funded by wealthy patrons, usually through anonymous donations that critics call “dark money.”

An investigation by The New York Times of Mr. Leo’s activities reveals new details of how he has built that network, with relatively little public attention, into one of the best-funded and most sophisticated operations in American politics, giving him extraordinary influence as he pushes a broad array of hot-button conservative causes and seeks to counter what he sees as an increasing leftward tilt in society.

Free Expression

Reason ("Volokh Conspiracy"): Could a Public Law School Stop Student Groups from Excluding Speakers Based on Their Support of Israel?

By Eugene Volokh

.....Several student groups at UC Berkeley Law School have signed on to a pledge not to invite any speakers—speaking on any subject—if those speakers "have expressed and continued to hold views … in support of Zionism, the apartheid state of Israel, and the occupation of Palestine." Berkeley Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, a noted liberal constitutional scholar, has condemned that position, but also argued,

Online Speech Platforms

Daily Caller: Facebook ‘Whistleblower’ Teams Up With Ex-Feds, Left-Wing Billionaire To Police Social Media

By Ailan Evans

.....Former Facebook employee and “whistleblower” Frances Haugen is heading a new initiative, featuring a slew of former intelligence officials and bankrolled by a left-wing billionaire, that aims to influence how social media companies moderate speech and content.

Haugen will co-chair the Council for Responsible Social Media, according to a Wednesday press release from Issue One, a non-profit sponsoring the initiative.

Election Law Blog: Read the Position Papers for Friday’s Stanford/UCLA Conference, “Should Donald Trump Be Returned to Social Media?”

By Rick Hasen

.....Very diverse group of papers from a set of very smart people for this Friday’s conference (not too late to register for the virtual webinar):

The States

Anchorage Daily News: Alaska campaign finance regulators set to determine if Dunleavy’s campaign illegally coordinated with an independent group

By Iris Samuels

.....Alaska’s campaign finance regulators decided Wednesday to hold an emergency hearing to determine whether Gov. Mike Dunleavy has illegally coordinated with an independent expenditure group supporting him in his reelection campaign.

Dallas Morning News: Group trying to disbar Ted Cruz over 2020 wants ban on election lies by lawyers

By Todd J. Gillman

.....A legal watchdog group seeking to disbar Sen. Ted Cruz and others who tried to help Donald Trump overturn his defeat called Wednesday for rules to forbid lawyers – including those in elected office – from lying about elections.

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