Last week, Twitter’s Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal sounded more like Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in rallying his troops to defy the existential threat of Elon Musk while pledging that they will not be “held hostage.” The threat, however, was not a private buyout but the threat that Twitter might be forced to respect free speech on the site. The problem for the Board members is that they could find themselves in court if their anti-free speech stance continues to stand in the way of shareholder profits. Such a lawsuit could be a bellwether for shareholder opposition to boards pursuing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) policies over profits.
When I was clerking in Louisiana after graduating from law school, there was story of a rather notorious local judge asking counsel in a criminal case if he was ready to present the case of the defendant. He then asked the prosecutors “and are we ready to present our case?”
The story came to mind recently with a controversy in Michigan where the Chief Judge of Michigan’s Court of Claims Elizabeth Gleicher said that she will preside over a challenge to an abortion law brought by Planned Parenthood despite her previously representing the group and her annual contributions to the group.
Below is my column in the Hill on the bid of Elon Musk to buy Twitter and its implications for free speech. The increasingly alarmist arguments of the left have continued to mount. On MSNBC, Democratic strategist Danielle Moodie declared “I’m going to be honest, Elon Musk is a danger to Twitter and to freedom of speech.” In other words, more free speech is the death of free speech. She is not alone in such Orwellian takes on the Musk bid for Twitter.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Twitter Faces the “Nightmare” of Being Forced into Free Speech”
Special Counsel John Durham continues to drop bombshells in filings in the prosecution of former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann. Just last week, Durham defeated an effort by Sussmann to dismiss the charges. He is now moving to give immunity to a key witness while revealing that the claims made by the Clinton campaign were viewed by the CIA as “not technically plausible” and “user created.” He also revealed that at least five of the former Clinton campaign contractors/researchers have invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to cooperate in fear that they might incriminate themselves in criminal conduct. Finally, Durham offers further details on the involvement of Clinton campaign general counsel Marc Elias and former British spy Christopher Steele in the alleged false claims.
I wanted to send my best wishes everyone celebrating the holiday today. The bunny came to the Turley house and left baskets overflowing with chocolates and candies, including a doggie basket for Luna. The gifts also included some new additions like a couple bottles of wine for an aging clientele. Continue reading “Happy Easter!!!”
There is an interesting case out of Kentucky where an employee of Gravity Diagnostics has been awarded $450,000 after the company threw a birthday party for him in August 2019. The employee has an anxiety disorder and did not want a party. Continue reading “Many Happy Returns: Employee Awarded $450,000 In Dispute Over Unwanted Birthday Party”
We have been following the litigation involving Shawnee State Professor Nicholas Meriwether over his refusal to adopt preferred pronouns when they contradict his religious views. He previously won a major appeal. Now, the university has settled with him for $400,000 in damages and attorney’s fees as well as a pledge not to continue to sanction him over pronoun use. Continue reading “Shawnee State Settles With Professor Over Pronouns”
Below is my column in the Hill on the litigation over the new admissions policy at the elite Thomas Jefferson High School in Fairfax, Virginia. The school board ended the use of an admissions test in favor of a “holistic approach” to achieve greater diversity at the school. Notably, this week, the board defended its policy before the Supreme Court by insisting that it was not “race balancing” and that the new policy is entirely “race neutral.” However, the board replaced a race-blind, merit-based system for the express purpose of achieving greater diversity. Indeed, one board member declared “in looking at what has happened to George Floyd . . . we must recognize the unacceptable numbers of such things as the unacceptable numbers of African Americans that have been accepted to TJ.”
The Virginia Attorney General (and various other states) have filed to challenge those assertions in a potentially important case that would allow the Court to consider allegedly discriminatory admissions practices and polices not just on the college but the high school levels.
Here is the column:
Twitter has continued its ever-widening censorship of social media this week with the suspension of the popular site, The @LibsofTikTok. What is interesting about this latest move is that it lacks even the pretense of neutrality. The liberal group Media Matters had targeted the site due to its use by Fox News and conservatives to run embarrassing stories for the left. So Twitter suspended a site that entirely features liberals talking about themselves.
Continue reading “Twitter Suspends LibsofTikTok For Featuring Liberals Talking About Themselves?”
We recently discussed the gathering of Democratic politicians and media figures at the University of Chicago to discuss how to better shape news, combat “disinformation,” and reeducate those with conservative views. The political and media elite shared ideas on how to expand censorship and control what people read or viewed in the news. The same figures are now alarmed that Elon Musk could gain greater influence over Twitter and, perish the thought, restore free speech protections to the site. The latest is former labor secretary under President Clinton, Robert Reich, who wrote a perfectly Orwellian column in the Guardian titled “Elon Musk’s vision for the internet is dangerous nonsense.” However, the column offers an insight into the anti-free speech mentality that has taken hold of the Democratic party and the mainstream media.
Continue reading “Freedom is Tyranny: Robert Reich Goes Full Orwellian in Anti-Free Speech Screed”
Below is my column in the New York Post on the potential liability of Hunter Biden under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA). I recently testified on FARA reforms and its history of enforcement.
Here is the column:
We recently discussed how faculty and administrators at schools like the University of Wisconsin have opposed polling students about the loss of free speech out of fear that the results could be used to pass new legislation supporting viewpoint diversity. Iowa recently passed just such legislation and it has produced its first change in funding. The Young Americans for Freedom chapter at Iowa State University reluctantly was granted funding from the student government after university legal counsel informed them that they could not withhold financial support to the conservative group.
Continue reading “Iowa State Students Forced to Fund Conservative Group Under New Law”
“The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” That line may be the oldest statement of a criminal defense articulated in what could be styled as Eve v. The Serpent in Genesis. Eve sought to excuse her own conduct by the inducement of the serpent. As shown by her (and Adam’s) expulsion from the Garden of Eden, it is a difficult defense to make even with the Almighty as your jury.
It appears, however, that Eve’s defense had greater success in Michigan this week after a jury failed to convict a single member of the alleged conspiracy to kidnap and execute Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. The serpent in this case, according to the defendants, was the United States government. Continue reading ““The Serpent Beguiled Me”: The Whitmer Prosecution and the Entrapment Defense”
President Joe Biden returned this week to his claim that the Second Amendment was originally understood and applied to ban the private ownership of cannons. It is not just an embarrassing repetition of a false claim but threatens to reduce his own gun control measures to little more than cannon fodder on a historical perspective. Continue reading “No, The Second Amendment Did Not Prohibit Cannon Ownership in the Early Republic”