Email from The Institute for Free Speech The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech May 27, 2025 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 Portland Press Herald: Maine PACs say campaign finance lawsuit is about free speech. The state says it’s about corruption By Emily Allen .....Lawyers for two of Maine’s conservative political action committees, or PACs, were in federal court in Portland on Thursday asking [U.S. District Court Magistrate Karen Wolf] to stop the state from enforcing a new law that caps PAC contributions at $5,000. The law was approved in a referendum last fall, but state officials agreed to delay its implementation until May 30… The Institute for Free Speech, a nonprofit law firm based in Washington, D.C., known to oppose campaign finance reform, sued the state in December. They represent both the Dinner Table Action Committee and For Our Future, two PACs that would be hindered from raising funds under the new law. Topeka Capital-Journal: Campaign finance lawsuit loss will cost Kansas nearly $100k in attorney fees By Jason Alatidd .....A legal loss in a campaign finance lawsuit will cost Kansas taxpayers nearly $100,000 in attorney fees. U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree on May 22 ordered the state to pay $98,500 in attorney fees and costs after losing a lawsuit against the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission. Crabtree in January sided with Overland Park advocacy group Fresh Vision OP, which had sued the ethics commission over its attempt to require the nonprofit to file as a political action committee. That would have forced the organization to publicly disclose its donors. New from the Institute for Free Speech Institute for Free Speech Applauds DOJ’s Decision Not to Defend Party Coordination Limits .....The Institute for Free Speech commends the Department of Justice’s decision in National Republican Senatorial Committee v. FEC to acknowledge that federal limits on coordinated expenditures between political parties and their candidates violate the First Amendment. In a dramatic and unusual shift, the DOJ is now asking the Supreme Court to overturn its 2001 decision in Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee v. FEC (Colorado II). “The Solicitor General’s recommendation that the Court grant the petition is a commendable move that acknowledges the First Amendment flaws in these limits,” said Institute President David Keating. “As we argued in our amicus brief, the factual basis underpinning Colorado II has been proven wrong by real-world evidence.” Historic Win for Iowa Free Speech: Anti-SLAPP Protections Now Law .....In a significant victory for free speech rights in Iowa, Governor Kim Reynolds has signed House File 472 into law. The new statute establishes crucial protections for victims of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs). This landmark legislation makes Iowa the 38th state to enact anti-SLAPP safeguards, meaning that 75% of states now have enhanced First Amendment protections. Iowa joins a growing national movement to protect citizens from frivolous lawsuits designed to silence public expression. The path to the governor’s desk was characterized by a strong showing of support for free speech principles where the bill passed unanimously in both chambers. In the House of Representatives, it garnered a final vote of 89-0 and was approved by the Senate, 47-0. This remarkable bipartisan achievement underscores how this reform transcends political divides. Before this legislation, Iowa was one of a dwindling number of states without anti-SLAPP protections, earning an “F” grade from the Institute for Free Speech in our Anti-SLAPP Report Card. Supreme Court Wall Street Journal: Rep. Laurel Libby Gets Her Vote Back By The Editorial Board .....The Supreme Court has temporarily restored the right of a duly elected Maine lawmaker to speak and vote in the state House, after she was censured over a Facebook post that included photos of a transgender high-school athlete. If that sentence sounds like a political mad lib, read on. The Courts NPR: NPR and Colorado public radio stations sue Trump White House By David Folkenflik .....NPR and three Colorado public radio stations filed suit Tuesday morning in federal court against the Trump White House over the president's executive order purportedly barring the use of Congressionally appropriated funds for NPR and PBS. "It is not always obvious when the government has acted with a retaliatory purpose in violation of the First Amendment. 'But this wolf comes as a wolf,'" states the legal brief for the public broadcasters. "The Order targets NPR and PBS expressly because, in the President's view, their news and other content is not 'fair, accurate, or unbiased.'" The line about the "wolf" was drawn from a 1988 dissent by the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Courthouse News: California pushes back on claims that employee meeting law stifles free speech By Alan Riquelmy .....Politics and religion took center stage Thursday in a federal hearing about whether a California law regulating mandatory employee meetings passes constitutional muster. The California Chamber of Commerce is seeking a preliminary injunction for Senate Bill 399, a 2024 law that it says limits employers from talking about religious or political issues. The chamber and other plaintiffs argue that they face liability by talking to employees about certain matters — a broad definition that includes the decision to join a labor group or topics that could involve coworker religious observations. Colorado Newsline: Parent groups sue Colorado officials over transgender rights expansion of anti-discrimination law By Sara Wilson .....A coalition of groups that reject transgender rights sued Colorado officials Monday over a newly signed law that put protections for transgender people, and how they are addressed, into Colorado’s anti-discrimination law. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of Colorado, alleges that House Bill 25-1312 violates the First and 14th Amendments. “The purpose of H.B. 25-1312 is clear. The law punishes those who refuse to speak using chosen names and pronouns, and it does so in order to suppress traditional beliefs about sex and gender. In other words, the law openly discriminates based on viewpoint,” lawyers for the plaintiffs wrote. Trump Administration The Free Press: Jed Rubenfeld: Trump’s Lawless Attack on Harvard .....Harvard, like my university, Yale, went off the rails years ago. Its faculty is ridiculously slanted in one ideological direction. It stopped protecting free speech. It turned itself into a hotbed of pro-terror sentiment. Its Faculty of Arts and Sciences required “diversity statements” vetting job applicants, as Steven Pinker puts it, “for their willingness to write woke-o-babble.” And it appointed a plagiarist as its president. (She remains on the faculty, by the way, reportedly collecting a salary of almost $900,000.) Nevertheless, Trump’s latest attack on Harvard is not legal. Here’s why. FEC Fortune: Ellen Weintraub was publicly fired from the government. Now she wants leaders to find ‘strength in numbers’ By Brit Morse .....[Former FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub] was abruptly dismissed in February from her role in a rather unconventional manner. “I was kind of expecting it, but I didn’t expect it when it happened or how it happened,” she said during the Fortune Workplace Innovation Summit on Tuesday. Typically, she would have been replaced with another nominee, but instead she was cut off from email, databases, and government facilities and fired immediately. “I was fired in a way that was designed to intimidate other people at my agency and other people at other agencies, and I think the only response to that is to stand together.” That’s why in this chaotic environment, now is the time to adopt policies and practices leaders can get behind, she noted. Weintraub urged leaders not to give in to temptation and pressures from others, especially those in political power, to dismiss employees without care and consideration, especially as companies look to cut costs.  The States People United for Privacy: Privacy Prevails in North Dakota – For Now By Alex Baiocco .....Republican lawmakers in North Dakota are still seeking retribution against nonprofits that have been critical of their voting records. In 2023, the last year the North Dakota Legislative Assembly met in Bismarck, multiple “original source” donor disclosure bills were introduced by Republicans who made no secret of their motivations. Representative Mike Schatz (R) referenced specific mailers sent by a nonprofit when discussing his newfound interest in exposing advocacy organizations’ donor lists, explaining, “It’s a little different when it’s your name under the funny hat.” Senator Jeff Magrum (R) put it even more bluntly: “I need to know who my enemies are.” Following the defeat of 2023’s retribution schemes, Rep. Schatz introduced H.B. 1286 in the 2025 session. Sen. Magrum, who reiterated his self-interested motivations for backing the bill, joined as a sponsor. Under the proposal, nonprofits that spend more than $200 over a two-year period on advocacy deemed to be “for a political purpose” would be forced to submit a “tracing record” of “original funds” received by the organization. Ultimately, the Secretary of State would publish the names and mailing addresses of donors who gave more than $200. As with all “original source” legislation, if one of those donors was another nonprofit, then that nonprofit’s donors would also have to be disclosed, ad infinitum. Gov. DeSantis: Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Anti-Swatting and School Safety Bills .....Today, Governor Ron DeSantis signed Florida House Bill 279, False Reporting, into law to increase penalties for the misuse of emergency communication systems, particularly false 911 calls that lead to public safety responses (“swatting”). “Swatting is a tactic of cowards who use fake reports to law enforcement to harass people who they disagree with politically. Today, Florida gets even tougher on swatting,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “I signed HB 279 which introduces felony charges for individuals who make false 911 reports that result in significant harm. If you try this in our state, you will face punishment.” Swatting is the malicious act of making hoax calls to report an emergency, in an attempt to trigger a response by law enforcement. Swatting can have violent and even deadly consequences. These are not victimless crimes. These acts are wasteful and create dangerous situations for the public, victims, and for our law enforcement officers. 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 political rights to free speech, press, assembly, and petition guaranteed by the First Amendment. Please support the Institute's mission by clicking here. For further information, visit www.ifs.org. 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