This is the Daily Media Update published by the Institute for Free Speech. For press inquiries, please contact [email protected].  

Florida Politics: Sunburn — The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics — 1.11.23

.....“Judge strikes down Florida censorship of nonpartisan candidates” via Tiffany Donnelly for The South Florida Sun-Sentinel — You’ve probably heard Florida has what some call a “Don’t Say Gay” law. But did you know it had a “Don’t Say Political Party” law? Until recently, Florida prohibited candidates in nonpartisan races from telling voters true information about their party affiliation. When Escambia County School Board candidate Kells Hetherington chose to describe himself as a “lifelong Republican” in his candidate statement on a county website in 2018, Florida officials fined him. He wanted to make a similar statement when he ran for the same office in the last election but refrained because he didn’t want to get fined again.

Reason ("Volokh Conspiracy"): S. Ct. Agrees to Decide: Is Negligently Threatening Constitutionally Unprotected?

.....The Supreme Court has long recognized that "true threats" of illegal conduct are excluded from First Amendment protection. But what mental state does the government have to show to prove that something is a true threat?

Reuters: U.S. judiciary loses bid to revive bar on staff's political speech

.....A federal appeals court on Friday declined to reconsider a ruling that declared the judiciary's policy of barring administrative staffers from engaging in political activities outside of the office unconstitutional.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected a request by the judiciary to have the full court rehear the case after a 2-1 panel in August held the rules violated the free-speech rights of employees of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts…

Courthouse News: Judge refuses to block California from sharing gun owner data with researchers

.....A federal judge has declined a request to temporarily block a California law that allows the state to share personal information about gun owners with gun violence researchers.

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns rejected the argument, finding the gun owners failed to state a claim. He granted state Attorney General Rob Bonta's request to dismiss the lawsuit...

Breitbart: Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee Introduces Bill Criminalizing ‘Conspiracy to Commit White Supremacy,’ Criticism of Non-White People

.....The legislation, H.R.61 “Leading Against White Supremacy Act of 2023,” introduced last Monday by Democratic congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, seeks to “prevent and prosecute white supremacy inspired hate crime and conspiracy to commit white supremacy inspired hate crime.”

Forbes: George Santos Will Be Booted From House If He Broke Campaign Finance Laws, GOP Oversight Chair Says

By Siladitya Ray

.....Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.)—who has refused to resign despite admitting to fabricating significant parts of his resume—will be ousted from Congress if he is found to be in violation of campaign finance laws, House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) told CNN on Sunday, though Comer stopped short of calling for Santos to resign.

Intelligencer: The Luckiest Liar in Politics How George Santos outran the truth.

By David Freedlander

.....[Santos] was, in the words of another consultant who met with him, “a walking campaign-finance violation,” allegedly coming up with schemes about how to circumvent campaign-finance law, including one that involved getting donors who had maxed out their donations to him to give to the political action committees of other candidates, who would then funnel the donation back to Santos.

NBC News: Lax campaign finance rules likely to survive Bankman-Fried scandal

By Alex Seitz-Wald and Allan Smith

....."I don’t think [the Sam Bankman-Fried scandal is] going to change anything in Washington," said Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard Law professor and activist who ran for president in 2016 as a protest candidate to push for campaign finance reform. "The reality is Congress likes to have access to large amounts of money. It’s an insider’s game that they’re all happy to play."

Star Tribune: Stop silencing public input

.....Public forums can get heated. We've all seen examples of emotional, sometimes angry constituents showing up at local government meetings to object to an action or proposal.

That's why the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information (MNCOGI) has wisely raised concerns about government entities that have excluded public comments from meeting broadcasts. The open-government nonprofit rightly believes that citizen feedback often serves to inform public policy.

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