March 16, 2023

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].

In the News

The College Fix: Judge allows conservative prof’s ‘all men are created equal’ lawsuit to proceed

By Corey Kendig

.....A judge has ruled a free speech lawsuit filed by a professor who was blocked on Twitter by a University of Oregon account after he tweeted “all men are created equal” may proceed.

Portland State University Professor Bruce Gilley’s lawsuit was filed last summer, and in late January U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez denied the university’s motion to dismiss.

But the ruling was billed as only a partial victory for Gilley, as Judge Hernandez declined to issue a preliminary injunction against the university from blocking the professor again.

With that, Gilley’s attorneys filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

“We are hoping the Ninth Circuit reverses the district court and imposes a preliminary injunction,” said Del Kolde, a senior attorney with the Institute for Free Speech, which represents Gilley.

“The case is about making a point that the First Amendment protects viewpoint diversity, including the right to criticize the secular religion of DEI,” Kolde told The College Fix via email.

Free Expression

National Review: Stop the Chaos: Law Schools Need to Crack Down on Student Disrupters Now

By James C. Ho and Elizabeth L. Branch

.....Unfortunately, too many educational institutions have stopped teaching students an essential skill of citizenship: knowing how to agree to disagree with one another. What we’re seeing instead is antithetical both to the academy and to America at large. We don’t disagree — we destroy. We don’t talk — we tweet. We live in a culture of cancellation, not conversation. We don’t engage with one another — we expel people from social and economic life. It’s unsustainable — and, we fear, existential.

What’s worse, what happens on campus doesn’t stay on campus. Students learn the wrong lessons and practice the wrong tactics. And then they graduate and bring these tactics to workplaces across the country. In recent years, leading law firms have felt increasing pressure not to hire students, or to remove lawyers, who hold certain views.

Fortunately, this problem may be surprisingly easy to solve. Most universities already have rules in place ensuring freedom of speech and prohibiting campus disruptions. The problem is that the rules aren’t enforced. Students disrupt without consequence. Administrators tolerate or even encourage the chaos.

Independent Groups

OpenSecrets: ‘Pop-up’ super PACs poured millions into high-stakes congressional races without disclosing their donors ahead of the 2022 general election

By Taylor Giorno and Harshawn Ratanpal

.....“Pop-up” super PACs that kept their donors hidden from voters until after Election Day poured $6.6 million into federal midterm races in the days leading up to the general election and the U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia, a new OpenSecrets analysis found.

The States

ABC News: Washington state bill would provide safeguards against 'deepfake' political ads

By Ivan Pereira

.....Washington state legislators are looking to get ahead of some technological tools used for political misinformation before they say they further disrupt the public trust in government.

The state Senate passed a bill last month that would provide political candidates with legal safeguards in civil court against "deepfake" videos, audio and images that are used in political ads...

The state House of Representatives held a public hearing in the State Government & Tribal Relations committee on March 10 and some constituents expressed concern about the language of the bill.

Joshua Hardwick, who works in video, told the committee he opposed the bill because the current language didn't clarify what constitutes a "deepfake" or an image or video edited for clarity or artistic purposes.

"If I apply a filter, make a color image black and white or sepia, or I want to shorten a part of the content and some things that may not be considered synthetic would be included," he testified.

PoliticoPro: Possible changes to campaign finance bill would make it easier for Murphy to oust Brindle

By Matt Friedman

.....The Murphy administration and legislative leaders are discussing amendments to the “Elections Transparency Act” — a large and controversial bill to dramatically overhaul New Jersey’s campaign finance system — that would make it easier to oust the agency’s executive director.

According to two officials familiar with the proposed changes, the amendments to the bill, NJ S2866 (22R), would temporarily give Gov. Phil Murphy the authority to make direct appointments to the Election Law Enforcement Commission’s board, which is currently filled by three members on hold-over status with one vacancy.

The Murphy administration late last month requested an amendment to the bill that would have made the executive director, who’s currently chosen by the board, a gubernatorial appointee.

Instead of that, the new change under discussion would allow the governor to bypass the Senate and its arcane unwritten rule of "senatorial courtesy," which requires senators from nominees' home counties to sign off on them, when naming new commissioners.

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