President, @InstFreeSpeech. Opinions my own. Free political speech absolutist: the separation of campaign and state. Founder, SpeechNow, beat the FEC in court.
Maryland USA
Joined December 2011
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Banning "redboxing" is a dumb idea and a threat to #freespeech.
masslive.com/opinion/2026/07…
This is the same company that sued @marwa_zaatari, who probably didn't have the resources to fight them to the finish. The company lost when they took on Elsevier, a scientific publisher which published an article related to their technology.
@j_g_allen @HuffmanLabDU @JimRosenthal4 @ShellyMBoulder @CorsIAQ @jljcolorado
[Eugene Volokh] No Liability for Scientific Publisher (Elsevier) in Defamation Lawsuit by Air Purifier Company ift.tt/lYIg5Zi
David Keating retweeted
NEW: The ACLU of Indiana is in turmoil after several of its most influential civil rights attorneys submitted their resignations in protest of the organization's direction under its board and incoming leader, multiple sources told @indystar . indystar.com/story/news/poli…
David Keating retweeted
"Let’s have more speech, not less." Read the new #FreeSpeechWeek opinion piece from IFS Research Director @KnowlesGardner on Justice Kennedy's legacy of championing free speech, via @TheWellNews:
thewellnews.com/opinions/why…
Sophia Miller, a 3L law student introduced by @andy_geronimo, argued the case. And for Judge Sutton fans out there, like @whignewtons, he's on the panel.
Our new Free Speech Arguments podcast episode explores if the First Amendment gives the public the right to access recordings of court proceedings. Listen to Samantha Hallman v. Travis Reeds, et al. here: ifs.org/podcast/free-speech-…
Excellent dissental by Judge VanDyke.
"The Supreme Court should take up this case to correct our circuit's erroneous 'serious questions' rule... But while it's at it, why not also correct Miller's "clearly irreconcilable" standard?"
Or a few GVRs would do the trick.
[Eugene Volokh] "The Supreme Court Should Not Have to Keep Trimming the Same Poison Ivy One Tiny Branch at a Time" ift.tt/YgQwWiL
Worth a read!
"We find that those who benefit from small donors appear no better at representing their constituents or being effective legislators." Reforms promoting small donors often promise more representative politicians.... We found little evidence of such benefits."
democracyproject.org/posts/s… Comments about we learned about small donors in our research, for @NYULawDemProjct with @zack_albert123 . It may surprise you.
Legal reasons? Let's call it like it is.
Campaign finance laws make it extremely difficult, to say the least, to start and then finance a new political party.
These laws violate #freespeech.
There are all sorts of procedural and legal reasons why the U.S. has been a two-party country for so long, and I'm not convinced that the rise of a successful third party is imminent, but ...
Well, let's put it this way: If and when a successful third party emerges in the next decade, people are going to pass around graphs like this in a "lol this is the most obvious development in modern political history" kind of way
David Keating retweeted
Heavy-handed campaign speech laws don't shield democracy, they wield a sword against political participation. Read the new blog by IFS Research Director @KnowlesGardner on how these laws function as a "sword of Damocles" ifs.org/blog/using-a-sword-t…
David Keating retweeted
Our new SCOTUS amicus brief asks the court to consider the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment in Jouppi v. Alaska. The clause has deep historical roots protecting free expression and remains vital today. Read our brief: ifs.org/cases/kenneth-j-joup…
David Keating retweeted
That's "featuring @InstFreeSpeech Sr. Attorney Owen Yeates." Tune it in.
The First Amendment has long protected the rights of individuals and groups to participate in public debate. Yet a number of states are seeking to restrict corporate speech. Register for the upcoming @FedSoc webinar, featuring IFS Sr. Attorney Owen Yeates fedsoc.org/events/corporate-…
David Keating retweeted
As this @WSJopinion editorial notes, @InstFreeSpeech has long advocated this step (op-ed by me and IFS board member Daniel Shuchman). Congrats to Chairman Atkins and Commissioner Peirce for making it happen.
- Removing the SEC from policing political speech could help the agency focus on its main mission of protecting investors from being swindled. wsj.com/opinion/sec-pay-for-… via @WSJopinion
Huge #freespeech win.
The rule violates the First Amendment rights of many Americans who work as investment advisers.
Great #freespeech news: @SECPaulSAtkins announced that the agency will repeal the political contributions rule.
That rule violates the First Amendment rights of many investment advisers and is unworkable.
Seems really fishy. "‘With 1,000% certainty’: Voters say candidates faked their donations to get public campaign cash."
Subsidizing politicians' election campaigns is a bad idea and a threat to #freespeech.
azmirror.com/2026/08/25/with…
Interesting article on "Spam PACs" by Adam Bonica, which seems accurate.
"An 85-year-old retiree in Oxford, OH made more than 7,800 donations totaling over $648,000 to Democratic causes, more than double the estimated value of his home."
data4democracy.substack.com/…
