Email from The Institute for Free Speech The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech June 3, 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 The College Fix: Conservative students, told to tame their criticism of Hamas and illegal immigration, file lawsuit By Janae Joachim .....A federal lawsuit has been filed against a California community college alleging administrators are infringing on conservative students’ free speech rights by telling them to tame their criticisms of hot-button topics such as Hamas and illegal immigration. The Young America’s Foundation student activists filed the lawsuit against Golden West College, located in the Republican stronghold of Huntington Beach. Student activists Matin Samimiat and Annaliese Hutchings allege administrators have threatened them with disciplinary actions if they continue to use extreme language to discuss controversial topics with peers. Washington Examiner: Is FEC deadlock good or not? To partisans, it depends on when you ask By Bradley A. Smith and David Keating .....Hypocrisy is so commonplace in politics that it takes a truly brazen example to be noteworthy. Enter Trevor Potter and Adav Noti, two campaign finance crusaders who spent years demanding a more “decisive” Federal Election Commission — right up until the moment President Donald Trump won his second term. Now, these so-called “reformers” have suddenly discovered the virtues of bipartisan enforcement. What makes this paralysis possible, and why have Potter and Noti suddenly embraced it after decades of criticism? To explain, let’s examine the origins of the FEC. Washington Legal Foundation: Business Tax Deduction Denial for Consumer Pharma Ads Is Unconstitutional By Zac Morgan .....As I have written before (for this sort of unconstitutional sleight-of-hand is neither new nor novel): Congress cannot force the recipient of a federal benefit to choose between forfeiting her constitutional rights and receiving that benefit. The Bush administration could not have conditioned Hurricane Katrina relief on recipients ceasing to criticize the government’s cleanup efforts in Louisiana, and the Obama administration could not have conditioned Fox News’s broadcasting license upon its ceasing to air interviews with Donald Trump. The Supreme Court has articulated “an overarching principle, known as the unconstitutional conditions doctrine, that vindicates the Constitution’s enumerated rights by preventing the government from coercing people into giving them up.” Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Mgmt. Dist., 570 U.S. 595, 604 (2013). New from the Institute for Free Speech Recommendations to the IRS on the Johnson Amendment By David Keating and Owen Yeates .....On May 30, 2025, the Institute for Free Speech responded to an invitation for public recommendations for the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service’s 2025-2026 Priority Guidance Plan with suggestions in regards to the Johnson Amendment, which unconstitutionally chills the speech of non-profit organizations. Read a PDF of the recommendations here. Supreme Court Austin American-Statesman: U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear activist's case against Texas Ethics Commission By Bayliss Wagner .....The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a conservative activist’s lawsuit challenging the Texas Ethics Commission’s enforcement powers, effectively ending a decade-long effort to weaken the watchdog agency. Michael Quinn Sullivan and Empower Texans, a now-disbanded powerful political advocacy group largely funded by West Texas oil billionaires Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, filed the lawsuit in 2014 after the ethics agency fined Sullivan $10,000 for failing to register as a lobbyist. The commission unanimously found he worked to influence GOP lawmakers' votes on behalf of Empower Texans, a position for which he was paid around $130,000 annually. An El Paso appeals court in 2022 upheld the agency’s ability to enforce election laws, and the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court declined to take up the case on appeal. Sullivan then made a Hail Mary request to the nation’s highest court. The Courts New York Post: Romanian national, 26, pleads guilty to ‘swatting’ over 75 public officials, including a former US president By Victor Nava .....A Romanian national pleaded guilty on Monday to charges related to his role in a “swatting” ring that targeted dozens of public officials, including a former US president. Going by the aliases “Plank,” “Jonah” and “Cypher,” 26-year-old Thomasz Szabo took part in a years-long conspiracy to place bogus 911 calls, claiming emergencies were taking place at the homes of top government officials, and make bomb threats against government buildings and houses of worship, according to Justice Department. Szabo and a co-conspirator, 21-year-old Serbian national Nemanja Radovanovic, allegedly targeted about 100 people, including members of Congress, governors, cabinet-level executive branch officials and state officials. FEC The Hill: Tester, Weintraub join Democratic organization to counter corruption By Filip Timotija .....Former Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont) and ex-Federal Election Commission (FEC) Chair Ellen Weintraub are officially joining the Democratic nonprofit group End Citizens United on Tuesday to help fight corruption and get big money out of politics, The Hill has learned. Both Tester and Weintraub will work at End Citizens United, a group that advocates for campaign finance reform, as senior fellows. The pair will be doing press interviews, writing op-eds, helping advise on legislation and participating in town halls and other public events across the country. OpenSecrets: FEC fines Rep. Maxine Waters’ campaign for election violations By Dave Levinthal .....Long-time Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters’ congressional campaign violated several federal campaign finance laws and must pay a sizable fine, according to newly published Federal Election Commission investigation documents. FTC New York Times: F.T.C. Investigates Ad Groups and Watchdogs, Alleging Boycott Collusion By Kate Conger and Tiffany Hsu .....The Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether roughly a dozen prominent advertising and advocacy groups violated antitrust law by coordinating boycotts among advertisers that did not want their brands to appear alongside hateful online content, four people familiar with the inquiries said. The inquiries include the agency’s previously reported investigation of Media Matters, a liberal advocacy organization that has published research on hateful and antisemitic content on X, the social media company owned by Elon Musk. IRS Washington Examiner: IRS official linked to Obama-era targeting scandal now heads ethics office — with deputy who compared Trump to Hitler By Robert Schmad .....An official involved in the Obama-era Internal Revenue Service scandal, which involved IRS officials singling out conservative groups for increased scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status, is now the acting director of the agency’s ethics watchdog department. Elizabeth Kastenberg, the new acting director of the IRS’s Office of Professional Responsibility, was directly involved in the Obama administration’s audit of conservative nonprofit organizations, which prevented them from taking part in the 2012 election, according to new research compiled by the American Accountability Foundation and obtained exclusively by the Washington Examiner. Katsenberg worked to find ways to deny tax-exempt status to groups linked to the Tea Party movement and even admitted that the agency’s behavior was politically motivated. Independent Groups KMMS: The Supersized Super PAC Hypocrite, Jon Tester’s Newest Gig By Aaron Flint .....First the former Democrat Senator from Montana took a gig with the far Left MSNBC. Now, the guy who complained about dark money and Super PACs took a job with a...you guessed it...Super PAC. Just like former Montana Democrat Gov. Steve Bullock. Rockstar conservative political consultant Brock Lowrance, who grew up in Helena, first shared the news back here on the Montana politics hashtag on X. The States Cincinnati Enquirer: Councilwoman fears being shot at meetings. Public hearing will decide her political fate By Jolene Almendarez .....A Northern Kentucky councilwoman says she fears she will be shot at a public meeting by a man she claims has harassed her online. Now that councilwoman, Serena Owen, is set to be the subject of a June 4 meeting of Elsmere's council – where her fellow council members will decide whether to complete the last step to remove her from office. 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