New from the Institute for Free Speech
IFS Welcomes Senior Fellow Gary Lawkowski
The Institute for Free Speech is pleased to welcome Gary Lawkowski as a pro bono Senior Fellow. As a Senior Fellow, Gary will assist IFS in analyzing legislation and regulatory proposals that affect First Amendment political speech rights.
Gary brings a wealth of experience in campaign finance and political law to IFS. He is currently Counsel at Dhillon Law Group, where he works on political law, election law, administrative law, appellate work, and nonprofit issues. Previously, he served in various capacities at the U.S. Department of the Interior, including as Counselor to the Secretary, and also served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the White House Domestic Policy Council.
Gary spent over four years as counsel at the Federal Election Commission, including stints with former Chairman Lee Goodman, former Vice Chairman Don McGahn, and, most recently, Commissioner Sean Cooksey. That experience has allowed him to see up close how campaign finance laws harm First Amendment rights.
“The freedom to express your opinion about government and work with others to do the same is one of the things that sets America apart as ‘the last best hope of Earth.’ Yet, too often, government regulators think they know best, and try to impose stifling burdens on these basic liberties,” said Gary. “I am excited to work with the Institute for Free Speech to fight for, protect, and pass down to the next generation the First Amendment rights we hold dear.”
Please join us in welcoming Gary to our team.
The Courts
Courthouse News: ‘Cowboys for Trump’ fight of New Mexico donor rules dumped by 10th Circuit
By Amanda Pampuro
A lack of standing doomed Cowboys for Trump’s lawsuit over New Mexico donor disclosure rules, with the 10th Circuit on Tuesday affirming a federal judge’s dismissal of the case.
“Plaintiffs alleged that they had not made and would not make any independent expenditures that would trigger the reporting or disclaimer requirements,” U.S. Circuit Chief Judge Timothy Tymkovich wrote in the 18-page opinion issued Tuesday.
“Therefore, compelled disclosure of donor information per those requirements is not plausible. Absent a plausible chance of such disclosure, there can be no chilling effect on any donor’s willingness to donate,” the George W. Bush appointee added.
Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin registered Cowboys for Trump as a limited liability corporation to collect donations as he advocated for then-president Donald Trump’s policies like the border wall and antiabortion policies. New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver in 2019 ordered Cowboys for Trump to register as a political action committee or face a $7,800 fine.
Cowboys for Trump sued New Mexico in June 2020 challenging state reporting, disclosure, and disclaimer provisions in the New Mexico Campaign Reporting Act.
Washington Post: Sarah Palin loses jury trial in closely watched New York Times libel case
By Elahe Izadi and Sarah Ellison
For more than four years, Sarah Palin waited for her chance to go head-to-head with the New York Times in court.
But after two weeks of testimony and nearly three days of deliberation, a jury decided Tuesday that the Times did not libel her in a faulty 2017 editorial — echoing a decision by the judge, who a day earlier said that he would dismiss her case regardless of its decision.
Bloomberg Law: Texas Judge, DA, Sheriff Must Face Police Captain’s Speech Claim
By Patrick Dorrian
A Texas police captain’s right to be free from firing at the behest of a new state judge, a local sheriff, and a local district attorney who allegedly believed an affidavit he provided in a criminal case disparaged them was clearly established, a divided Fifth Circuit ruled.
Judge Jeff Fletcher, James Wheeler, a former Wood County district attorney, and Tom Castloo, the county sheriff, therefore were properly denied immunity from Terry Bevill’s First Amendment retaliation suit, the 2-1 appeals court said.
Bevill says the three men conspired to get him terminated because of his affidavit supporting the bid of David McGee, a former county jail administrator, to move McGee’s trial on charges he helped an inmate escape and tampered with government documents to a different venue. The affidavit stated that Bevill didn’t believe McGee could get a fair trial in the county because of the political climate and local players, including the close relationship between Fletcher, Wheeler, and Castloo, the court said.
Donor Harassment
Ottawa Citizen: Threats close Stella Luna Gelato Café after owner’s name appears in GiveSendGo data leak
By Blair Crawford
Ottawa’s Stella Luna Gelato Café was forced to close Tuesday after receiving threats when owner Tammy Giuliani’s name appeared on a hacked list of GiveSendGo donors to the Ottawa “Freedom Convoy.”
Giuliani says that she now regrets making her $250 donation on Feb. 5 and that staff in the shop had begun receiving threats Monday morning after her donation was posted on Twitter.
“We got a call from the team saying, ‘We’re getting phone calls here,’” Giuliani said in a phone interview Monday afternoon. “I said, ‘What’s going on?’ and they said, ‘They’re threatening to throw bricks through our window. They’re threatening to come and get us.’ We said, ‘Lock the door and we’ll find out what’s going on.’”
Political Giving
Politico: These companies stopped campaign donations to election objectors. Their lobbyists did not.
By Emily Birnbaum, Megan Wilson, and Hailey Fuchs
Amazon lobbyists were hardly alone in sidestepping company bans on giving to Republicans who voted against certifying President Joe Biden’s victory on Jan. 6. Throughout 2021, in-house government affairs staffers for at least 13 companies gave personal donations to Republicans who objected to the presidential election results, according to a POLITICO review of campaign finance filings from the Federal Election Commission…
“It clearly is a workaround,” said Craig Holman, a government ethics expert at progressive consumer rights advocacy group Public Citizen. “If a company is serious about not giving a campaign contribution to insurrectionists, then they can’t allow people who are in senior executive positions who represent the company to make those same contributions. And that would include the CEO as well as the lobbyists of the company.”
Most of the 13 companies either did not offer a comment on their employees’ donations or declined to comment. Those who did emphasized that the money was given in the employee’s capacity as an individual, using their own money. Sean Smith, a General Electric spokesperson, said that it would “respect that our employees’ personal decisions on donations are their own.” Dow said that it would not dictate the personal political contributions or ideology of its employees and that the position it took in Jan. 2021 only applied to Dow and its PAC.
“We respect our colleagues’ freedom of choice to participate in the political process in a manner that they see fit,” Dow said in a statement.
Free Expression
Washington Post: A Virginia deputy AG just learned the hard way about the danger of social media
By Sophia A. Nelson
I had my own horrible cancel culture experience last fall on my college campus at Christopher Newport University in Virginia. I tweeted a question to which some in the LGBTQ+ community on my campus took offense, and, in an instant, my fledgling career as an adjunct professor and as a historic first-time Black female scholar in residence at the university came to a screeching halt in the wake of anger, recriminations, protests and demands to silence me. I will not be returning to teach after this spring…
The latest victim of her own posts is Monique Miles, a promising young Black lawyer based in Alexandria, Va., who was just named to the office of Attorney General as a deputy overseeing elections and other public affairs issues in the commonwealth…
We have got to stop canceling people because of social media posts. Instead, let’s start a call-out culture that corrects, heals and grows us all into better human beings.
The States
Daily Camera: Purpose of lawsuit debated in campaign finance complaint hearing
By Deborah Swearingen
Boulder Municipal Court Judge Jeff Cahn will issue a written order within 10 days regarding a campaign finance complaint filed by three Boulder residents against former Boulder City Council candidate Steve Rosenblum.
The complaint was argued on Monday in a hearing that lasted about six hours.
Boulder residents Mark McIntyre, Regina Cowles and Jane Hummer filed the campaign finance complaint, arguing Rosenblum exceeded the city’s expenditure limits when he sought legal assistance to research, prepare and file a lawsuit against the Boulder Progressives and a group of community members.
