Supreme Court
Politico: How the Supreme Court Dropped the Ball on the Right to Protest
By Kia Rahnama
For more than 30 years, the Supreme Court has failed to take up a freedom-of-assembly case. As a result, this fundamental constitutional right is in sore need of an update, such as a ruling that would protect protesters from the unduly harsh police response that has become all too common as a response to demonstrations in recent years.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution explicitly describes the right of the people to peaceably assemble. This right is recognized separately from the right to freedom of speech because the founders believed that the act of organizing a large crowd for a demonstration, parade or protest could be more powerful than individual speech, and was therefore even more susceptible to government encroachment. Like the right to religious expression, the founders gave the right to protest its own listing intending for the courts to give it special treatment and fashion unique legal standards that would ensure its protection. This has happened with the other specifically enshrined rights.With free speech, for example, the Supreme Court has in recent years defined specific kinds of modern speech-computer code, or speech on the internet-and protections for them.
But over the past 50 years, the courts have ducked that responsibility to protect the freedom of assembly, laying the groundwork for the hyperaggressive police response to protests that is observed in the streets today.
New York Times: A College’s ‘Free Speech Areas’ Face Supreme Court Review
By Adam Liptak
A few years ago, a college student in Georgia stood on a stool outside a campus food court to talk about his Christian faith. He spoke for 20 minutes about human frailty and the possibility of salvation when school officials told him he had to stop or face discipline.
This fall, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether the student, Chike Uzuegbunam, can sue the officials for violating his First Amendment rights when they enforced a particularly severe version of the school speech codes that have become commonplace at colleges and universities around the nation.
Mr. Uzuegbunam had tried to comply with the rules at his school, Georgia Gwinnett College, a public institution in Lawrenceville, Ga., that sprawls over 260 acres. The college had designated two small patches of concrete as “free speech expression areas.” …
The free speech zones were available, moreover, only on weekdays and only for four hours on most days and two on Fridays. Students could reserve them once every 30 days.
When Mr. Uzuegbunam stepped onto his stool in August 2016, he was in one of the free speech zones. Indeed, he had reserved the space, submitting a free speech area request form three business days before, as required by the college’s elaborate freedom of expression policy…
A campus police officer told him that he could distribute literature and have one-on-one conversations. But public speaking in a free speech zone, the officer said, amounted to disorderly conduct.
The Courts
BloombergQuint: Facebook Sued Over Warning Labels on Anti-Vaccine Posts
By Robert Burnson
Facebook Inc.’s practice of putting fact-checking warning labels on anti-vaccination posts triggered a lawsuit accusing the social media company of censorship. Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit advocacy group led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., filed the complaint Monday in federal court in northern California. The warning labels “appear to flag disinformation, but in reality censor valid and truthful speech,” according to the complaint.
Right to Protest
Knoxville News Sentinel: ACLU urges Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to veto attempt to criminalize Capitol protests
By Travis Dorman
The American Civil Liberties Union is urging Gov. Bill Lee to veto a bill that would crack down on protesters, saying it would chill free speech by threatening people with “overly harsh criminal penalties” and mark “a giant leap in the wrong direction” on criminal justice reform…
If the bill becomes law, anyone who cooks, pitches a tent, sleeps or leaves personal belongings on state property from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. could face between one to six years in prison. People convicted of felonies in Tennessee lose the right to vote and carry a gun.
Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the ACLU’s Tennessee chapter, sent a letter to Lee on Friday skewering the bill as an attack on Tennesseans’ rights disguised as an attempt to protect first responders…
“Time and again, non-violent protests have been at the heart of moving our state and our nation forward. (Senate Bill) 8005 is a giant leap in the wrong direction, trampling on the rights of Tennesseans simply because some do not like the message or the fashion in which protesters are making their voices heard. Regardless of the message, non-violent protest is protected speech,” [the letter reads in part.]
Times-News: NAACP members celebrate favorable court decision
By Dean-Paul Stephens
For the time being, protestors are free to use formerly prohibited spaces in and around the Alamance County Courthouse, following a ruling by North Carolina’s Middle District Court.
The decision, filed Friday, is the most recent development in the Alamance County Chapter of the NAACP’s ongoing legal battle against the local government’s efforts to mitigate Confederate monument protests within Graham. NAACP members and their supporters were thrilled after learning the court’s favorable ruling.
“I’m relieved that the judge seems to be coming down on the side of the First Amendment and people’s right to legally assemble,” local NAACP President Barrett Brown said about Judge Catherine Eagles, who presided over the case.
FEC
Business Insider: Dozens of Federal Election Commission employees are asking Trump and the Senate to appoint people of color to the agency for the first time in its 45-year history
By Dave Levinthal
A group of Federal Election Commission employees has a message for the White House and US Senate leaders: appoint commissioners of color for the first time in the agency’s 45-year history.
All the 31 people who’ve served on the FEC as commissioners since its founding in 1975 have been white. Former Commissioner Ann Ravel, who served from 2013 to 2017, identifies as white and Latino.
“Just as no political party has a flawless record on race, we believe fervently that none has a monopoly on advancing diversity,” reads a letter signed by 66 FEC staffers, and seen by Insider. “We make this call not to tip the balance toward any party or potential nominee but instead to rectify a historical blindness to the benefits Commissioners of diverse backgrounds and experiences can bring to the agency staff, to its mission, and to the nation.”
Free Speech
The Red Hand Files: What is mercy for you?
By Nick Cave
Mercy is a value that should be at the heart of any functioning and tolerant society. Mercy ultimately acknowledges that we are all imperfect and in doing so allows us the oxygen to breathe – to feel protected within a society, through our mutual fallibility. Without mercy a society loses its soul, and devours itself.
Mercy allows us the ability to engage openly in free-ranging conversation – an expansion of collective discovery toward a common good. If mercy is our guide we have a safety net of mutual consideration, and we can, to quote Oscar Wilde, “play gracefully with ideas.”
Yet mercy is not a given. It is a value we must nurture and aspire to. Tolerance allows the spirit of enquiry the confidence to roam freely, to make mistakes, to self-correct, to be bold, to dare to doubt and in the process to chance upon new and more advanced ideas. Without mercy society grows inflexible, fearful, vindictive and humourless…
As far as I can see, cancel culture is mercy’s antithesis.
Independent Groups
Business Insider: Biden’s ‘dark’ side: How Democrats are embracing secret money and the Citizens United decision to defeat Trump
By Dave Levinthal
In its push to topple Trump, the Democratic super PAC behind [a recent ad] won’t fully disclose the funder. That’s despite Biden’s own pledge to stop political groups from “hiding” behind dark money, the secret currency created in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark Citizens United decision from 2010.
The situation illustrates an uncomfortable truth for liberals here in 2020 as the former vice president prepares to accept his party’s presidential nomination on Thursday. Democrats, it turns out, are plenty willing to mortgage a core value to vanquish Trump and stem the existential threat they believe he poses.
This election cycle, anonymous donors have so far pumped several pro-Biden super PACs with a combined $45 million worth of dark money…
That’s already about seven times the amount of dark money that pro-Hillary Clinton super PACs took in during the entire 2016 presidential campaign, which ended with Democrats’ stunning loss to Trump.
Of the more than two dozen prominent Biden backers Insider interviewed this month, most agreed that Democrats should spend whatever sort of money was necessary – even funds from untraceable, unaccountable sources typically favored by Republicans – to help him win…
Systemic campaign-finance reform should and would come later if Biden wins the presidential election, they say…
The Biden campaign declined to answer Insider’s specific question about whether pro-Biden super PACs and nonprofits should fully disclose their donors to voters. But a representative for the presumptive Democratic nominee said in a statement that Biden was committed to broad political-money reforms.
Online Speech Platforms
Business Insider: Facebook ‘actively promotes’ Holocaust denial content to certain users, a new study finds
By Ben Gilbert
[A]ccording to an August 10 report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a British think tank…Facebook not only hosts anti-Semitic content denying that the Holocaust happened, but…it continues to present that content to users.
Using the “snowball” method on Facebook, where a user clicks suggested content based on prior activity, the report found that “when a user follows public pages containing Holocaust denial content,” Facebook actively promoted related content…
The report found similar Holocaust denial content available through Reddit, Twitter, and YouTube – but Facebook was the only service that actively surfaced additional related content…
A Facebook representative shared the following statement with Business Insider:
“We take down any post that celebrates, defends, or attempts to justify the Holocaust. The same goes for any content that mocks Holocaust victims, accuses victims of lying, spews hate, or advocates for violence against Jewish people in any way. We also remove Groups and Pages that discuss Holocaust denial from recommendations and references to it in search predictions. While we do not take down content simply for being untruthful, many posts that deny the Holocaust often violate our policies against hate speech and are removed. In countries where it is illegal, such as Germany, France and Poland, this content is not allowed in accordance with the law. Striking the right balance between keeping people safe and allowing free speech is difficult and we know many people strongly disagree with our position. We are constantly developing and reviewing our policies and consulting with organizations around the world to ensure we’re getting it right.”
Candidates and Campaigns
Jewish Insider: Money in politics is not like it once was. Will pro-Israel donors adapt?
By Matthew Kassel and Jacob Kornbluh
[Pro-Israel] donors have long relied on a simple and time-tested model. By bundling $2,800 checks – the maximum amount an individual can donate to a campaign – networks of like-minded contributors around the country have been able to give their preferred candidates a fundraising edge…
But a slew of key races this cycle have demonstrated that this model is not as effective as it once was…
Already this cycle, a number of progressive congressional candidates, including first-timers and fresh incumbents backed by Justice Democrats and other far-left political groups, have won despite often being outspent by opponents…
The races underscore a nascent new reality of political campaigning as free social media attention gains a currency of its own and as grassroots strategies like canvassing, door-knocking and phone-banking have often proven more valuable than large television ad buys and other costly expenditures…
“Money can’t buy you love. It can’t even buy you votes,” added Frank Luntz, a political pundit and Republican pollster…
“There’s more evidence every cycle that more money isn’t making a big difference in the outcome,” said Democratic campaign strategist Joe Trippi. “Plenty of candidates with less money are beating candidates with more money.” …
“The candidate still really matters,” said Trippi. “Somebody with less money but a more powerful message can beat a weak message with millions and millions of dollars.”
Politico: Meet The Politician Who Lives on TikTok
By Max Cohen
For the handful of politicians who’ve embraced it, TikTok fills a couple of important voids. For one, it’s among the few vehicles guaranteed to attract one of the most elusive demographics – Generation Z, the very youngest voters. And at a time when Covid-19 makes door-to-door connections unlikely, [Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey’s] campaign manager John Walsh sees it as a way to connect directly, and informally, to voters…
“We go where people are, and young people are there,” Walsh said of the app. “It’s a bunch of teenagers and a 74-year-old United States senator.”
Washington Post: Mike Bloomberg pledges $60 million to help House Democrats
By Michael Scherer
Former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg plans to spend $60 million to strengthen the Democratic House majority in November, roughly matching the money he invested in flipping control of the House in 2018, according to a Bloomberg adviser familiar with the plans…
The $60 million commitment, which includes more than $10 million already given to House Majority PAC, comes on top of other spending he has made to help Democrats this year. After funding state parties around the country during his suspended presidential campaign, Bloomberg transferred $18 million in cash to the Democratic National Committee in March. He also made a $35 million commitment to fund a data consulting firm, Hawkfish, which has been working with the DNC and outside groups that support Democrats.
The States
Michigan Capitol Confidential: Court Tosses Politicians’ Lawsuit Against Residents For Critical Comments
By Dawson Bell
An Oakland County court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a pair of Bloomfield Township officials against two township residents for items they posted on NextDoor.com, in which they criticized local elected leaders and a 2019 proposal to raise township taxes. The court called the suit frivolous and an affront to free speech rights.
In an Aug. 6 order, Circuit Judge Daniel O’Brien struck down all the claims raised by Township Supervisor Leo Savoie and Treasurer Brian Kepes only three months after the lawsuit was filed.
In doing so, he adopted arguments filed in defense of residents Val Murray and Kathleen Norton-Schock in their entirety.
“The very existence of this lawsuit is anathema to the foundational principles of free speech,” attorney Brian Wassom argued in response to the lawsuit.
Murray and Norton-Schock were sued for damages that could amount to $9 million for the “expression of opinion on political issues … ideas that (Savoie and Kepes) dislike,” Wassom said, in arguments adopted by O’Brien.
The case against NextDoor.com, a social media platform, was not included in the dismissal, but Wassom said he expects the suit against the company to be dismissed fairly soon.
“This lawsuit is incredibly frivolous,” Wassom said, “It would be comical if it wasn’t such a dangerous assault on free speech.”
Voice of San Diego: SDPD Says it Will Stop Enforcing Seditious Language Law
By Kate Nucci
San Diego Police Chief Dave Nisleit has instructed officers to stop enforcing a century-old law that forbids “seditious language” as elected officials begin the process of repealing it.
Earlier this month, VOSD reported that police since 2013 had issued at least 83 tickets for what’s generally understood as speech advocating to overthrow the government.
San Diego Municipal Code 56.30, approved in 1918, forbids anybody within city limits from uttering, within earshot of another person, “any seditious language, words or epithets.”
One legal expert said the law was highly unconstitutional and questioned whether cops weren’t simply punishing people who’d offended them personally. One man said he was cited for singing rap lyrics…
[T]he city attorney’s office is preparing a new ordinance to repeal the seditious language law at the Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee on Sept. 9, said spokeswoman Hilary Nemchik.
The repeal ordinance, if it passes the committee, will then go before the entire City Council for a vote.
