This is the Daily Media Update published by the Institute for Free Speech. For press inquiries, please contact [email protected].
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By Andrea Cavallier
.....A tenured professor at the University of Texas at Austin sued the school after he claims the administration made threats to his job when he criticized critical race theory as having 'no scientific basis.'
Dr. Richard Lowery filed the lawsuit in federal court this month and claimed the university violated his constitutional right by punishing him for speaking out on controversial subjects - like the school's critical race theory and diversity policies.
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Supreme Court
By Nicole Saad Bembridge
.....The Court may soon grant review of two lawsuits brought by my employer, NetChoice—NetChoice & CCIA v. Moody and NetChoice & CCIA v. Paxton—which concern state-level efforts to control online speech. The cases will determine if 50 separate state governments can each decide what content is available to their residents online. While an anti-speech judgment in any of these three cases will have destructive consequences, the sum of these judgments could be catastrophic for online free speech.
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DOJ
By Taylor Giorno
.....Federal prosecutors hit former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried with new federal charges in an indictment unsealed in the Southern District of New York on Thursday, including allegations that the disgraced cryptocurrency darling conspired to make illegal political contributions in the names of two other executives and use misappropriated customer funds. Campaign finance data analyzed by OpenSecrets provides additional clues.
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Congress
By Kelly Laco
.....The House Oversight Committee on Tuesday will mark up two bills that Republicans say will protect speech from Biden administration censorship following allegations that Biden's federal agencies have labeled "inconvenient facts" as "misinformation" or "disinformation" to stifle speech.
The first piece of legislation introduced by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., would expand the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from participating in political activities in their official positions.
The second bill introduced by Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., would require a report to Congress on every instance in the last five years that a government agency suppressed lawful free speech on social media and other Big Tech platforms.
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Online Speech Platforms
By Joseph Menn
.....Accounts pushing Kremlin propaganda are using Twitter’s new paid verification system to appear more prominently on the global platform, another sign that Elon Musk’s takeover is accelerating the spread of politically charged misinformation, a nonprofit research group has found.
The accounts claim to be based outside of Russia, so they can pay for verification without running afoul of U.S. sanctions. But they pass along articles from state-run media, statements by Russian officials, and lies about Ukraine from Kremlin allies, according to the research group Reset, which shared its findings with The Washington Post.
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The States
By Matt Friedman
.....On Friday, I told you about how a late tweak to the massive “Elections Transparency Act” would take away some of the Election Law Enforcement Commission’s independence, making its executive director — currently appointed by ELEC’s bipartisan commissioners — a gubernatorial nominee.
Later that day, we discovered the reason, or at least the justification by the Murphy administration. ELEC Executive Director Jeff Brindle sent what most would consider an inappropriate email to an ELEC staffer back in October in response to a communication about National Coming Out Day…
But let’s take a step back here. The “Elections Transparency Act” is scheduled for final passage today in both the Assembly and Senate. The Murphy administration and Legislature are trying to defang and politicize the state’s campaign finance watchdog agency while simultaneously massively increasing political contribution limits, allowing political parties to create giant new “housekeeping funds,” and gutting New Jersey’s pay-to-play laws. And they’d put a two-year statute of limitations on ELEC’s enforcement powers — a move that would excuse the three major Democratic committees from paying some big fines they could face as a result of a recently-announced ELEC audit of the 2017 election. The statute of limitations would also hamper an agency that depends on public tips to pursue charges. Those can lag by a lot…
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By Ben Christopher
.....For a bill described by its author as “the most significant political reform of the last 50 years,” Senate Bill 1439 sure didn’t get much attention when it was working its way through the Legislature last year.
The law, authored by Sen. Steve Glazer, passed without a single “no” vote. It was co-authored by an ideology-spanning group of Democrats and a Republican. No big spending lobbyists came out against it.
But now some people are finally starting to take notice of SB 1439. And they’re taking it to court.
On Wednesday, a coalition of business groups — including those representing the building industry, restaurateurs and major retailers — sued the state’s campaign finance regulator, arguing that the law violates campaign finance rules and freedom of speech rights of local elected officials and the interest groups who want to contribute to them.
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By Matthew Vadum
.....A pro-life activist and his group can’t be sued for defamation for calling pro-abortion groups “criminal organizations,” the Supreme Court of Texas ruled.
The court ruled (pdf) on Feb. 24 that pro-life activist Mark Lee Dickson need not face defamation claims in lower courts because he was expressing a constitutionally protected opinion.
The case is the Lilith Fund for Reproductive Equity v. Dickson.
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By Christopher Kane
.....A bill by Florida Republicans that would relax the standards required for public officials to sue journalists and media organizations for libel is “plainly inconsistent with the First Amendment” according to the acclaimed attorney and constitutional law expert Floyd Abrams.
“The statute is a frontal attack” on the U.S. Supreme Court’s longstanding interpretation of the principles “governing First Amendment libel law as it currently exists,” Abrams told The Washington Blade by phone on Wednesday.
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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."
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