October 18, 2022

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The Courts

Courthouse News: Federal judge blocks California community college’s political flyer policy

By Madalyn Wright

.....A federal judge in California Friday ruled Clovis Community College administrators cannot enforce the school's flyer policy while a suit filed by students and members of a conservative youth organization proceeds.

Prior to the injunction, the school required students to have all flyers approved by an administrator to ensure they did not contain any "inappropriate or offensive language or themes."

Washington Times: Baltimore regulations violate abortion protester’s First Amendment rights, lawsuit says

By Mark A. Kellner

.....A Maryland man has sued the city of Baltimore alleging violations of his rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion.

John Roswell of Elkridge says the city’s efforts to block him from placing signs on a public sidewalk while he protests near the Planned Parenthood clinic in Baltimore are unconstitutional, partly because permitting regulations require the site to consent to the display.

Free Expression

Newsweek: PayPal and America's Pending Social Credit System

By Ben Weingarten

.....Do Americans wish to live in a world where dissenters from prevailing elite orthodoxy face discrimination in every public domain?

The recent fracas over PayPal's user policy raises the specter of such a dystopia: a de-banked future—driven by de facto social credit scoring—that is quickly becoming our present.

Reason: Don't Weaponize Child Abuse Hotlines Against Your Political Opponents

By J.D. Tuccille

.....Last week saw a perfect example of abusing the system when journalist David Leavitt sent his Twitter followers to Virginia's hotline for child abuse in response to a political candidate who said she was teaching her daughter a version of American history he didn't like.

"Can someone please call child care services on Tina Ramirez who's teaching her child to be a racist?," David Leavitt urged his more than 331,000 followers. This after GOP Virginia State Senate candidate Tina Ramirez said "I teach my daughter real American history. I refuse to join the radical left's campaign to erase history."

Leavitt then documented his efforts to reach the hotline and complained about the wait time. It didn't seem to occur to him that his urging hundreds of thousands of followers to use the line to harass a political opponent might have something to do with "high call volumes."

Independent Groups & Nonprofits

Wall Street Journal (LTE): ‘Dark Money’ on the Left

By Hayden Ludwig

.....In a letter (Sept. 29), Arabella Advisors claims it’s a little lamb, not the “dark money” titan everyone knows it is. Its president, Rick Cruz, insists his for-profit firm provides its “client” nonprofits with “operational support” for “human resources, compliance and accounting.” Actually, Arabella’s biggest “clients” are in-house nonprofits like the Sixteen Thirty Fund (“the indisputable heavyweight of Democratic dark money,” per the Atlantic). Arabella’s pet nonprofits share offices plus interlocking board members and leaders with it—how many companies create their own “clients”?

Candidates and Campaigns

Washington Post ("Technology 202"): These GOP Senate candidates are setting their sights on Silicon Valley

By Cristiano Lima

.....Senate Republicans have grown increasingly critical in recent years of technology giants like Google and Facebook, with many publicly bashing them over allegations they “censor” conservatives and some embracing efforts to rein in their market power.

But if elected, a new crop of candidates could make the Senate GOP even more antagonistic toward Silicon Valley, bringing greater head winds for companies.

A slew of candidates either backed by or supportive of former president Donald Trump have campaigned in part on targeting the tech giants, and in some cases have indicated they would support taking more aggressive action to regulate them.

In several high-profile races, GOP candidates who have railed against Big Tech would also be replacing incumbents that have taken more moderate stances against the industry, making their adversarial postures even more pronounced.

OpenSecrets: Outside groups spent a midterm-record of $1.3 billion on 2022 federal elections. The election is still 25 days away.

By Taylor Giorno

.....Outside groups have poured more than $1.3 billion into the 2022 federal midterm elections, surpassing the nominal – not adjusted for inflation – 2018 midterm election record with 25 days left until the Nov. 8 general election.

Outside spending has sharply trended upward each election cycle following the Supreme Court’s landmark Citizens United v. FEC decision in 2010. Super PACs, political committees that can raise unlimited sums from corporations, unions and individuals but are prohibited from coordinating with parties or candidates, make up the overwhelming majority of outside spending.

Online Speech Platforms

Washington Post: Kanye Buys His Own Little Piece of Free Speech

By Parmy Olson, Bloomberg

.....It used to be that newspapers were the must-have baubles for wealthy ideologues. Now, social media platforms are becoming the trophy asset of choice for powerful individuals who want to push an anything-goes view on free speech, especially if they’re been burned by the rules on more established sites. Kanye West is the latest to throw his hat in the ring to become a platform proprietor, pushing for the “right to freely express ourselves.”

The States

Spokesman-Review: Ferguson seeks $24.6 million from Facebook for campaign finance violations

By Laurel Demkovich

.....Attorney General Bob Ferguson is seeking the maximum penalty of $24.6 million against Facebook’s parent company, Meta, for violations of Washington’s campaign finance transparency law.

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