In the News
Just Security: Fixing the FARA Mess
By Nick Robinson
In response to the Justice Department’s recent announcement that it was considering major changes to FARA’s implementing regulations, the Department last month received a slew of critical public comments, including from the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL), where I manage the U.S. Program. One media outlet called the widespread criticism a “five-alarm fire” for DOJ. An open letter signed by the ACLU, Americans for Prosperity, the NRDC, and other prominent nonprofits warned that “FARA’s overbreadth and vagueness can undermine and chill First Amendment rights to speech and association and the statute has a history of being used to target undesirable expressive conduct.” …
The public comments provided an unsettling litany of examples of conduct that would seemingly require registration under DOJ’s current interpretation of the Act. For example, the Institute for Free Speech lamented that the countless Americans who respond to urgent pleas from those in war torn countries, like Afghanistan or Ukraine, to help them flee by contacting their members of Congress would arguably need to register.
Free Expression
Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): Meet Junius, the OG of Pseudonymous Trolls
By Jeff Kosseff
Junius’s letters are among the most prominent examples of pseudonymous and anonymous speech that proliferated in England and the American colonies throughout the eighteenth century…
Based on Junius’s own letters and the impact that they had, we can deduce many potential motivations for his seeking anonymity. These motivations apply not only in eighteenth-century England, but also in the modern disputes over online anonymity in the United States.
First is the Legal Motivation for anonymity…
Second is the Safety Motivation. Junius may have faced personal retaliation, such as being physically attacked, for criticizing some of the most powerful people in England. His opponents may have destroyed his property, or harmed his family. Junius’s private letters suggested that he doubted whether he could survive unmasking.
Third is the Economic Motivation. Depending on his occupation, Junius may have lost his job if his name had been publicly associated with his writing. If Junius operated his own business, he may have faced a decline in revenues due to the controversy.
Fourth is the Privacy Motivation. Junius may have wanted to avoid public attention…
Fifth is the Speech Motivation. His identity may have distracted readers from the content of his message, which was strong enough to upset the powerful and cause political change.
The Dispatch: Pronouns, Pluralism, and the Problem of Free Speech in Public Schools
By David French
Before we get to the pronouns segment of this newsletter, I want to introduce you to what might be the most important Supreme Court case you’ve never heard about. It’s a 2006 case called Garcetti v. Ceballos, and it’s central to America’s educational culture wars.
The question in the case was relatively simple—do public employees enjoy First Amendment protections when they’re engaged in job-related speech? Previous cases had determined that public employees enjoyed substantial free speech protections for speech “off the clock” when they spoke about “matters of public concern.” But what if the speech at issues was made “pursuant to the employee’s official duties”?
Glenn Greenwald: Romney’s “Treason” Smear of Tulsi Gabbard is False and Noxious, But Now Typifies U.S. Discourse
As pervasive as “traitor” accusations were during the Trump presidency, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has elevated this “treason” mania to never-before-seen heights. Everyone and anyone who questions or deviates in any way from the prevailing bipartisan consensus is accused of being a treasonous Russian agent based on the slightest infraction…
On March 10, The Daily Beast posted a sensationalized tabloid tweet promoting its article about [Rep. Tulsi] Gabbard that went mega-viral, designed to feed into the innuendo that Gabbard is a Kremlin agent. The tweet, retweeted by ten thousand people, screams: “EXCLUSIVE: Russian-American national Elena Branson was indicted this week for lobbying for pro-Kremlin policies while not registered as a foreign agent. She gave to one U.S. politician: Tulsi Gabbard.” One has to read to the fifth paragraph of the article to learn that “the combined total of those donations isn’t colossal by any means—a whopping $59.95.”
The Media
The Hill: Panel on ‘The View’ calls for DOJ to probe Tucker Carlson over Putin rhetoric
By Dominick Mastrangelo
The co-hosts of ABC’s “The View” on Monday slammed Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson for a number of comments he has made in recent weeks about Russian President Vladimir Putin and suggested the host be investigated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) over them.
“I think DOJ, in the same way that is setting up a task force to investigate [Russian] oligarchs, should look into people who are Russian propagandists and shilling for Putin,” host Ana Navarro said. “If you are a foreign asset to a dictator it should be investigated.”
Several of the show’s co-hosts expressed agreement as Navarro spoke.
IRS
Americans for Tax Reform: Stolen Tax Files: Nine Months and Still No Answers from the IRS
Nine months ago it was revealed that the private tax files of “thousands” of Americans – covering a period of 15 years — had been stolen and given to a progressive news organization. The IRS and the Biden administration immediately vowed to investigate and prosecute.
Yet here we are nine months later with no answers from the government, while Democrats push for even more power for the IRS.
IRS chief Charles Rettig is testifying Thursday before the Ways and Means oversight subcommittee. Committee members must hold Rettig accountable and get detailed answers after nine months of stonewalling, as the Biden Treasury Department claims it doesn’t even know if the IRS was the source of the stolen files.
Candidates and Campaigns
OpenSecrets: Candidates poured over $100 million of their own cash into campaigns in 2021
By Katherine Huggins
Candidates vying for House and Senate seats in the upcoming midterm elections poured over $100 million of their own money into self-funding congressional campaigns in 2021 — and state candidates gave millions more, a new OpenSecrets analysis found…
In recent years, more self-funding occurred in the second half of the election cycle compared to the first half. The self-funding numbers of 2021 are considerably higher than the amounts self-funded in the first half of past election cycles…
Investment banker Mike Gibbons, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, self-financed the most of any candidate in the 2022 cycle — $11.4 million. Gibbons’ contribution makes up about 94% of the total contributions his campaign received.
As 2021’s top self-funder at the federal level, Gibbons’ $11 million sum is markedly higher than previous top self-funders’ contributions in the first year of the election cycle. In the 2020 cycle, the highest congressional self-funder was former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) with $23.7 million — though less than a quarter of that came in the first year of the election cycle ($5 million).
The States
Los Angeles Times: Column: A small-city mayor takes on big oil and political propaganda
By Mark Z. Barabak
After several interviews, [Steve] Young landed a spot on Benicia’s Planning Commission . . . His appointment to the commission led to his election to the City Council, which in turn positioned Young for a successful 2020 run for mayor — and a fight with the oil company that looms large in this small city.
Young’s victory, and the deep-pocketed campaign against him, has placed him at the intersection of two of the more insidious trends in politics today: the flood of limitless money and the gutting of local news media, which has left a void too easily filled by propaganda and misinformation…
So along with Vice Mayor Tom Campbell, Young came up with two proposals to govern campaigns and try to stem Valero’s influence.
The first sought to establish a kind of municipal truth commission. But the city attorney noted the high legal bar facing lawmakers if they sought to enter the campaign fact-checking business.
Young then approached the local newspaper, the Benicia Herald, in hope its meager staff will begin truth-squadding political ads. If the paper is willing, candidates “could use that in some future mailing or social media post, saying a third party has looked at this and it’s false.”
The second proposal, to prevent digital manipulation — like casting a candidate in shadow — and other forms of electronic fakery, is set to go before the city’s Open Government Commission for consideration.
Politico: Adams quietly undoes de Blasio-era lobbying disclosure requirement
By Sally Goldenberg
Mayor Eric Adams has dispensed with a de Blasio-era policy to voluntarily disclose meetings top administration officials take with lobbyists — further obscuring an already-opaque system of outside influence over government actions.
