We’re Hiring!
2022 Summer Associate Legal Fellowship
The 2022 Institute for Free Speech Summer Associate Legal Fellowship is a unique opportunity for current law school students to explore a career in public interest and First Amendment law. The program is open to students who will finish their first or second year of law school by the summer of 2022.
Fellows are expected to work full time for 10 weeks in our Washington, D.C. headquarters, but other arrangements may be available to especially outstanding candidates.
Fellows are eligible to earn $10,000 in salary for their 10 weeks of employment.
During the fellowship, students will work with Institute for Free Speech attorneys for a portion of their time. Each fellow will also be expected to complete a project. Applicants are encouraged to be creative in suggesting a project as part of their application.
[You can learn more about this role and apply for the position here.]
In the News
KFIZ: Wisconsin Family Action Doesn’t Want To Disclose Donors
A conservative political group wants to strike down federal elections laws that require it to disclose its donors.
That lawsuit, filed on Thursday by Wisconsin Family Action, is asking a federal court in Green Bay to strike down regulation from the Federal Elections Commission that requires a political action committee to disclose any donor that contributes more than 200 dollars.
Lawyers for the group say that is an illegal imposition on their member’s right to freely associate with each other.
[Ed. note: Learn more about the case here. To read the complaint, click here.]
DOJ
“The effective and efficient enforcement of FARA is critical to facilitate transparency about foreign influence efforts and to support our democracy,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division [said]. “We are pleased to begin the rulemaking process by soliciting input from the wide array of stakeholders in FARA, including public interest groups that rely on disclosures under FARA to support their mission.”
The Department is considering changes to key regulations, including those relating to the scope of agency; the commercial exemption; and exemptions for persons qualified to practice law as well as for those engaged only in religious, scholastic or scientific pursuits. The Department is also considering changes that would modernize its regulations relating to labeling informational materials in light of the significant technological changes that have occurred since the regulations were last amended more than a decade ago. Modernization of FARA’s implementing regulations will further facilitate the Department’s focus on FARA enforcement to ensure transparency in U.S. democratic processes.
The Department welcomes comments from attorneys practicing law in this area, public interest and transparency groups, and anyone else with an interest in the proper administration and enforcement of FARA’s disclosure and labeling requirements.
The Courts
By C. Ryan Barber
A pair of nonprofit advocacy groups sued the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday, alleging that the federal agency has failed for the past five years to act on a complaint against the Russian government and 2016 Trump presidential campaign alleging violations of campaign finance law.
The two groups, Campaign for Accountability and Free Speech for People, argue in their federal lawsuit that the FEC’s delay has potentially deprived the American public of information that wasn’t revealed during Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s two-year investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
In the lawsuit, filed in Washington, DC, federal court, the groups noted Mueller’s work and separate congressional investigations but said those inquiries, “pursuing different angles for different purposes and with different mandates, have not focused on bringing transparency to campaign financing — the FEC’s mandate.”
Michigan Radio: Lawsuit: Allendale Township censored racial justice messages
By Sarah Cwiek
Allendale Township violated a Black veteran’s civil rights when it rejected his efforts to put racial justice messages on public display, according to a new federal civil rights lawsuit.
The Ottawa County township has what it calls a “Garden of Honor.” It allows people to purchase bricks engraved with messages of their choice, and display them there. Messages range from commemorative, such as “Allendale Class of 2003,” to religious, such as, “I am the Resurrection and the Life.”
The Garden of Honor also has a monument that includes a Confederate soldier. Former Allendale resident and U.S. Navy veteran Tony Miller found that racist. So in protest, he submitted applications for engravings that included phrases such as “Black Lives Matter” and “Indigenous Lives Matter,” followed by veteran names.
According to the lawsuit, the Allendale Township board then changed the rules—inscribed bricks honoring veterans could only include a name, plus basic details of their service. The township then rejected Miller’s applications, and those of other civil rights activists who had submitted similar applications.
Candidates and Campaigns
Roll Call: Taking it with them: Members leaving with money in the bank
By Kate Ackley
More than 20 sitting lawmakers who have said they’re leaving after the 117th Congress — or in Nunes’ case, in the middle of it — will hit the exits with nearly $53 million in combined leftover political cash, including in their campaign accounts and separate leadership PACs. A few more have already left…
Some departing members give refunds. Most often, they donate the money to political committees and charities, or they hang on to the funds to dole out after they’ve left office. Some may keep their political money around in case they make another run for office in the future.
“There are a lot of different things that the retiring members can use the funds for,” said Michael Toner, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission who heads the election law and government ethics practice at law firm Wiley. “There’s no deadline by which federal officeholders have to close up their campaign accounts or leadership PAC accounts.”
Retiring lawmakers who keep their campaign committees active continue to face disclosure requirements, and there are limits on how much they can donate to candidates or other PACs. They may give an unlimited amount, however, from their reelection accounts to party committees.
“One of the first calls they’ll get when they say they’re retiring is from party committee officials, given that reality,” Toner said.
The States
Arizona Capitol Times: Justices to decide ACC ‘dark money’ issue
By Howard Fischer
The state Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether a majority of the Arizona Corporation Commission can block one of its members from seeking access to corporate records to see if the company is funneling “dark money” into the campaigns of regulators.
In a brief order, the justices agreed to review a Court of Appeals ruling that denied Bob Burns, who was a member of the panel, the independent right to look at the books of Arizona Public Service and Pinnacle West Capital Corp., its parent. Burns specifically wanted to know about the money it spent – and may spend in the future – to elect candidates of its choice.
Chicago Tribune: Illinois moves to prohibit ‘dark money’ in judicial races, but it’s unclear what effect that will have on state’s free-spending campaigns
By Dan Petrella
Acting after Republican donors and business interests made history in 2020 by bankrolling the successful campaign to unseat Democratic Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kilbride, Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a measure last month that bans judicial candidates from receiving campaign cash from out-of-state contributors and groups that don’t disclose their donors…
Banning money from undisclosed donors could be a tactical advantage for Democrats because, by and large, their judicial candidates tend to draw their support from labor unions and civil attorneys, whereas there has been more spending on the right by nonprofit organizations that aren’t required to disclose their donors…
But in the case of last year’s retention fight, it appears the law would have had a fairly limited impact on the amount of money raised and spent.
