In the News

The Steve Gruber Show: Zac Morgan: No “reasonable expectation of privacy” from your phone’s location data

Zac Morgan, is a staff attorney at the Institute for Free Speech and an Opinion contributor to USA Today. The government says you have no “reasonable expectation of privacy” from your phone’s location data. And the government believes that it should be able to get your location history from your phone provider on, more-or-less, its own say-so. 

FEC

USA Today: Federal regulators approve narrow Facebook ad disclosure

By Fredreka Schouten

Federal election regulators told a political group Thursday that its Facebook ads must include disclaimers showing who paid for them…

But, on a 4-0 vote, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) made it clear that its action applied narrowly, and it still planned to work on broader rules governing digital advertising next year…

The commission’s vote Thursday clarified that Take Back Action Fund, a political group associated with Republican political consultant John Pudner, must include disclaimers on its proposed Facebook image and video ads that call for the election or defeat of candidates.

But the legal opinion approved by commissioners warned that only an organization engaged in political activity “indistinguishable” from that planned by Pudner’s group should rely on the guidance approved Thursday.

“I don’t think this is an earth-shattering answer that will affect lots of people going forward,” Caroline Hunter, the commission’s Republican vice chairwoman, said during Thursday’s debate.

Congress

Washington Post: In small win for Democrats, the final tax bill will not include a provision allowing churches to endorse political candidates

By Heather Long

In a minor win for Democrats, the final GOP tax bill will not include a repeal of the Johnson Amendment, a change that would have allowed religious institutions and all nonprofit entities organized as 501(c)3s to endorse political candidates…

Some Republicans expressed frustration that the Johnson Amendment “fix” wasn’t allowed in the final bill.

“I’m disappointed in the decision of the parliamentarian to not allow the revised text of the Johnson Amendment into the tax reform bill,” said Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) “The federal government and the IRS should never have the ability, through our tax code, to limit free speech.” …

“Nonprofits are allowed to lobby Congress or their local elected officials, but the ambiguity of the current tax code keeps non-profits in constant fear that they might have crossed a line that no other organization has to consider,” said Senator Lankford. He argued the repeal language that Republicans crafted would still have prohibited any campaign financing via non-profits.

CNN: ‘Dark money’ provision dropped from tax bill

By Jon Sarlin

A controversial provision that would have permitted nonprofit groups to enter politics and could have led so-called “dark money” contributions to become tax deductible has been dropped from the GOP tax bill, according to a leading Senate Democrat.

Sen. Ron Wyden gave credit to his fellow Democrats for striking the Republican proposal to roll back the Johnson Amendment — which prevents tax-exempt charities from directly participating in politics — saying in a statement that they had stopped the measure “from being jammed into any final Republican tax deal.”

“I will continue to fight all attempts to eliminate this critical provision that keeps the sanctity of our religious institutions intact, prevents the flow of dark money in politics, and keeps taxpayer dollars from advancing special interest biddings,” the Oregon Democrat said in a statement…

The Byrd Rule — an arcane Senate rule that determines what can be allowed it into a reconciliation bill — likely was a key factor in the decision to drop the rollback of the Johnson Amendment.

Wisconsin John Doe

Weekly Standard: Wisconsin, the Surveillance State

By Christian Schneider

In 2012, the Milwaukee County district attorney asked for a second John Doe probe, into Walker’s gubernatorial campaign. This one gained national notoriety in October 2013, when law enforcement officers began making paramilitary-style, pre-dawn raids on the homes of unsuspecting private citizens…

In January 2014, Judge Gregory Peterson effectively shut the second investigation down, noting that the conservative groups were engaged in constitutionally protected speech. In July 2015, the Wisconsin State Supreme Court ended the investigation for good and ordered that all the evidence be destroyed or returned to its owners.

It was only after this court order that dozens of conservative activists learned that three years’ worth of their private email and text messages had been seized. With the release of the WisDOJ report, the public found out that this mountain of intimate, private correspondence had been sitting for years in an unsecured filing cabinet in the basement of what used to be the offices of the Government Accountability Board (GAB), which enforced the state’s ethics and elections laws until 2015, when it was replaced by two separate watchdogs. Much of this material had been reviewed and filed by GAB staff when they began the secret investigation that WisDOJ calls “John Doe III.”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: After John Doe leak, GOP leaders Scott Fitzgerald and Robin Vos want commission heads to resign

By Patrick Marley

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) sent separate letters Thursday to the heads of the two commissions saying they should step down.

“You have lost the confidence of our caucuses to be an impartial administrator,” they wrote.

The letters were sent to Michael Haas, the administrator of the Elections Commission, and Brian Bell, the administrator of the Ethics Commission…

The push to oust Haas and Bell was sparked by a report last week by Attorney General Brad Schimel over the mishandling of documents gathered in a John Doe investigation of Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign. The state Supreme Court shut down that probe in 2015, finding nothing illegal occurred.

Afterward, nearly 1,400 pages of secret documents were published by the Guardian U.S.

Schimel investigated the leak and last week requested contempt-of-court proceedings for nine officials for how they handled evidence.

Free Speech

Reason: Government Is the Cause of-Not the Solution to-Online Censorship

By Scott Shackford

Lest Americans think it can’t happen here, it already is. Reason’s Elizabeth Nolan Brown has warned that Congress is considering forcing online platforms and sites to take legal responsibility for any sex trafficking content. The FBI would be able to prosecute online companies if people use their sites for the purposes of coordinating sex for cash, even if that wasn’t what the tools were intended for.

The consequences could be much more severe than people realize. If this immunity is compromised simply because the government wants to make it easier to prosecute somebody for certain types of crime, there’s no limit to the exceptions lawmakers could implement.

Notoriously censorious Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has already openly threatened social media companies like Facebook and Twitter with a legislative response if they don’t “do something” about social media political advertisements that apparently originated from Russia. This is a politician running for re-election next year threatening legal action against political speech that might threaten that re-election.

Tech companies, sadly, are easing their hard lines on protecting consumers from censorship. Why should they risk angering self-serving politicians when the public is cheering them on to take more control of the internet?

The States

WTOP Washington, D.C.: Under DC bill, tax dollars would be used to fund political campaigns

By Jon Murray

If you live in the District, your taxes could soon be used to help fund political campaigns.

Under a bill advanced by the D.C. Council’s judiciary committee Wednesday, political candidates would be able to tap into a pool of public money controlled by the city’s Office of Campaign Finance.

The option would be available for those running for mayor, city council, attorney general and the State Board of Education…

After qualifying, candidates would be eligible to receive a lump-sum payment in public funding which would total $160,000 for mayoral candidates and $40,000 for those running for a seat on the council.

Candidates could then match small donations with public funding at a rate of 5 to 1, meaning a candidate could receive $250 in tax dollars for an individual donation of $50.

Those who participate would need to turn down contributions from corporations and political action committees.