President, @InstFreeSpeech. Opinions my own. First Amendment Absolutist. Founder, SpeechNow, beat the FEC in court.
Joined December 2011
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May 1
First Choice Women's Resource Center may well be one of the most important #freespeech opinions for the right to assemble in many years.
It's a beautifully written opinion and gives renewed force to vital precedents like NAACP v Alabama, Shelton v. Tucker, Bates v. Little Rock, and Buckley v. Valeo.
It's also going to help groups being subjected to lawfare by blue and red state AGs.
Apr 30
SCOTUS decision in First Choice Women's Resource Centers v. NJ is huge. Despite the iconic SCOTUS decision in NAACP v. Alabama, and the more recent decision in Americans for Prosperity Fdn v. Bonta, many lower courts have continued to insist that compelled disclosure of one's affiliations is not a harm that can even support a challenge to the government's actions.
Yesterday the Supreme Court firmly rejected that approach:
"Demands for private donor information ... 'chill' protected 1st Amendment associational rights even when those demands contemplate disclosure only to government officials and not ‘the general public. ...
"An injury in fact does not arise only when a defendant causes a tangible harm to a plaintiff, like a physical injury or monetary loss. It can also arise when a defendant burdens a plaintiff ’s constitutional rights. And our cases have long recognized that demands for a charity’s private member or donor information have just that effect."
This is a huge win for privacy and freedom, a huge blow to those who seek to "cancel" individuals or intimidate them from participating in public debate with threats of government retaliation, direct or indirect.
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David Keating retweeted
Jun 11
“The university departments won’t hire anyone but leftists.”
“Freedom of association. Make your own institutions.”
“Okay”
“And now we will spend millions to destroy your institutions.”
Jun 11
NEW: The Mellon Foundation gave $1.5 million to establish a "center for the defense of academic freedom."
In audio I've obtained, the group's leader says his goal is to undermine the newly launched classical civics centers: "map who these f---ers are... and knock them out." 🧵
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David Keating retweeted
Jun 12
Today is the 250th anniversary of The Virginia Declaration of Rights!!
"Section 12 -- That the freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments."
Link to the full document👇
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Jun 12
Today is the 250th anniversary of The Virginia Declaration of Rights!!
"Section 12 -- That the freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments."
Link to the full document👇
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Jun 12
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Jun 12
Judge orders a halt to TX AG Paxton's lawsuit against @actblue. “The truth is plain and captured in Paxton’s own declarations: The lawsuit was filed in retaliation for (and in an attempt to suppress) ActBlue’s efforts to fund Talarico’s campaign."
#freespeech
Opinion link👇
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Jun 10
The late Justice Scalia once said, "[T]his campaign finance law is so intricate that I can't figure it out."
Campaign finance laws are one of the greatest threats to #freespeech.
Jun 10
@DavidAFrench: "Political [#freespeech] is at the core of the First Amendment…How we allowed a labyrinth of [campaign finance] regulations so intensive…
"Nancy and I created Evangelicals for Mitt…But when we did it, the amount of legal knowledge that we had to have to do that safely was absurd."
From Advisory Opinions with @whignewtons. Link to the full episode below, along with a transcript of this excerpt.
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Jun 10
@DavidAFrench: "Political [#freespeech] is at the core of the First Amendment…How we allowed a labyrinth of [campaign finance] regulations so intensive…
"Nancy and I created Evangelicals for Mitt…But when we did it, the amount of legal knowledge that we had to have to do that safely was absurd."
From Advisory Opinions with @whignewtons. Link to the full episode below, along with a transcript of this excerpt.
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Jun 10
Transcript:
I think it's not super arguable that really the political speech is at the core of the First Amendment and the core of the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment, as in if it protects anything, it protects political speech.
And if it was enacted for any purpose, if it has any meaning, public meaning, it means protecting political speech.
Certainly not only political speech, certainly not, but it definitely means political speech is definitely core to the First Amendment.
And how we allowed a labyrinth of regulations so intensive that, believe me, you've been looking at it and working at it from the standpoint of I'm a part of a campaign. And you've had to put every brain cell in that Harvard Law educated brain into making sure your campaigns remain in compliance.
I've been looking at it from the standpoint of like an interested citizen who wants to contribute to the political process by more than just like writing a check.
So when Nancy and I did Evangelicals for Mitt and created this group called Evangelicals for Mitt all the way back in 2006, that, guys, that's carrying a torch right there. That was a six-year doomed effort to help Mitt Romney become president.
But when we did it, the amount of legal knowledge that we had to have to do that safely was absurd, was absolutely absurd.
And I remember when Time Magazine years and years and years ago did a story about us, I felt like it was a typical thing like trying to figure out if we were astroturfed or whatever. And one of the parts that was sort of betraying that, at least in their mind, we were not astroturfed, by the way. This was just like we're genuinely trying to do this.
And they said Evangelicals for Mitt seems to have received good legal counsel. And I was like, thank you. Thank you for that, acknowledging that.
But I had to do research as a trained attorney and with extreme anxiety to make sure that we were participating in the political process in all the legal ways. I mean, that's kind of absurd when you think about it.
And so I want to see less regulation of political giving to candidates and parties with retaining transparency.
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Jun 10
Yet more evidence that money buying campaign speech doesn't buy an election.
Steyer is out of the California governor’s race, along with his climate agenda dlvr.it/TSyZsX
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David Keating retweeted
Jun 6
There are many strong feelings about this subject, but I’m very happy to be representing this group in protecting our rights of association. To help make sure that we can freely join together.
🚨 JUST FILED: Our attorneys have filed a lawsuit on behalf of @grassroothawaii to challenge Hawaii's Act 11, which violates key political speech rights. Read our new press release to learn more about this case: ifs.org/news/free-speech-law…
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David Keating retweeted
Jun 6
Read this thread from @InstFreeSpeech attorney Owen Yeates, who explains why, representing @grassroothawaii we have challenged Hawaii's anti-free speech, anti-free of association law:
Jun 6
There are many strong feelings about this subject, but I’m very happy to be representing this group in protecting our rights of association. To help make sure that we can freely join together.
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Jun 3
If true, as is likely, disgusting tactics by the DOJ in the SPLC case.
The superseding indictment given to the press last night was a draft!
I'm sure @whignewtons would never have done anything like that.
Link to the full brief below.
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Jun 3
Great article, worth a read if you care about the freedom to publish (freedom of the press). The post provides a gift link.
#freespeech
To those who advance the cause of freedom in America, keep going.
One requirement of self-governance is the relentless pursuit of truth, which necessarily involves questioning people in positions of power in order to prevent tyranny.
theatlantic.com/magazine/202…
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Jun 2
"A central claim of small-donor reform is that it will produce legislators who are more responsive to constituents and more effective in office. Our analysis finds little evidence for that. Across measures of legislative behavior and effectiveness, members who rely heavily on small donors do not outperform their peers. In some cases, they perform worse. And we find no evidence that they are more aligned with constituents on policies than Members of Congress who rely on PAC or larger donations."
@raylaraja and Zachary Albert.
Links to read more in the next post.
Image by Gemini AI
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May 14
press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books…
Small donors often seen as antidote to big money in politics
In Small Donors in U.S. Politics (@UChicagoPress), @zack_albert123 and I show story is more complicated
They broaden participation but aren't typical American, amplifying most partisan voices
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