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

AZCentral: Why disclosing 'dark money' donations actually hurts your freedom of speech

.....Your free speech rights became much less secure after the passage of Proposition 211 last year.

The new law harms your right to join others to form groups to press for government reform. With the law’s forced disclosure of names and addresses, fewer will want to join such groups and lend their voice to important social issues.

Those who think the status quo is just fine probably welcome these changes. The rest of us should worry. So it’s a good thing that the Goldwater Institute recently filed a lawsuit challenging the measure, saying it violates Arizonans’ constitutional rights to free speech and assembly.

Forsyth County News: ‘Please trust the judgment of our educators.’ What's next in the books debate in Forsyth schools

.....[Forsyth County Board of Education] Chief Communications Officer Jennifer Caracciolo presented a draft of changes to the board’s public participation policy, which removes portions challenged in a lawsuit filed by the Mama Bears against board members and Forsyth County Schools last summer.

In November, a federal judge ruled that portions of the policy were unconstitutional, temporarily repealing the board’s ability to enforce certain rules during meetings. Now, the district plans to remove those same portions of the policy entirely, including those stating that:

The new draft of the policy is now available for public feedback on the district’s website, www.forsyth.k12.ga.us, where it will remain for the next 30 days. Caracciolo said she will present the draft again at the board’s next meeting in February for a final vote.

Election Law Blog: Federal District Court in Mackey Case Rejects First Amendment Defense to Criminal Prosecution for Spreading Twitter Memes Falsely Telling Hillary Clinton Supporters They Could Vote by Hashtag/Text

.....You can find the opinion here (h/t Eugene Volokh).

I write about this case in Cheap Speech. I think, and the district court agrees, that it does not violate the First Amendment to make it a crime to lie about when, where, or how people vote. The Supreme Court so indicated in dicta in the Mansky case. That kind of “false election speech” can be limited consistent with the First Amendment even though laws regulating “false campaign speech” (such as statements that “my opponent voted six times to raise taxes”) likely cannot be.

"On the Merits" Podcast (Bloomberg Law): Ohio Corruption Case Asks, Is It Bribery or Donation?

.....A trial is currently underway against the former speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives over allegations he accepted millions in bribes. But he says the money was political speech protected by the First Amendment - and that he has Supreme Court cases to back him up.

OpenSecrets: ‘Dark money’ groups have poured billions into federal elections since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision

By Anna Massoglia

.....Outside spending to influence federal elections has since topped $9 billion, a new OpenSecrets analysis found. More than $2.6 billion of that comes from unknown sources, with secretly-funded nonprofits accounting for over $1 billion of the outside spending reported to the Federal Election Commission since the 2010 cycle.

Washington Post: Google to stop exempting campaign email from automated spam detection

By Isaac Stanley-Becker

.....Google plans to discontinue a pilot program that allows political campaigns to evade its email spam filters, the latest round in the technology giant’s tussle with the GOP over online fundraising.

Reason: How the CDC Became the Speech Police

.....According to a trove of confidential documents obtained by Reason, health advisers at the CDC had significant input on pandemic-era social media policies at Facebook as well. They were consulted frequently, at times daily. They were actively involved in the affairs of content moderators, providing constant and ever-evolving guidance. They requested frequent updates about which topics were trending on the platforms, and they recommended what kinds of content should be deemed false or misleading. "Here are two issues we are seeing a great deal of misinfo on that we wanted to flag for you all," reads one note from a CDC official. Another email with sample Facebook posts attached begins: "BOLO for a small but growing area of misinfo."

New York Times: Mystery Deepens Around George Santos’s $700,000 in Campaign Loans

By Michael Gold and Nicholas Fandos

.....An updated campaign finance report filed on Tuesday raised new questions about the source of six-figure loans that Representative George Santos gave his congressional campaign.

Politico: The improbability of George Santos’ $199 expenses

.....Rep. George Santos’ congressional campaign reported dozens of transactions just cents below the threshold that would have triggered a requirement to preserve spending records — an unusual spending pattern that is now part of broader complaints about alleged financial improprieties.

Reason ("Volokh Conspiracy"): Idaho Supreme Court Rejects Proposed Attorney Speech Code

.....Resolution 21-01, modeled on the American Bar Association's proposed Rule 8.4(g), would allow lawyers to be punished for "engag[ing] in … harassment," defined as "in representing a client or operating or managing a law practice or in the course and scope of employment in a law practice, engag[ing] in conduct that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know is harassment":

Associated Press: Senate panel advances long-stalled campaign finance reform

.....A Virginia Senate committee advanced a bill Tuesday that would prohibit lawmakers from using campaign funds for personal expenses like a mortgage or country club membership — a change lawmakers have long resisted adopting.

Cleveland.com: Transparency laws will help expose dark money at the root of Ohio pay-to-play: editorial

.....Within days of the FBI’s July 2020 arrest of five powerful Ohio Statehouse figures, charging them and a dark money group with helping to engineer a sweeping bribery and corruption scheme to pass a nuclear bailout bill, House Bill 6, politicians of both parties introduced dark-money disclosure bills...

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