October 2024

Your support has propelled NCLA’s mission to new and impactful levels! This month, we’re spotlighting major steps forward in our fight for free speech. In a recent development for open discourse, NCLA helped Elon Musk defend his right to express his views about union issues on X. The Fifth Circuit vacated an order to delete his post—a key affirmation that individuals can speak freely on matters of public interest without interference. We’re also challenging San Antonio’s unjust firing of a city poet for sharing personal beliefs. NCLA is working to hold officials accountable for infringing on his rights, underscoring the fundamental importance of protecting free expression for every American.

In other news, our efforts to stop the Department of Education’s latest attempt to cancel student loan debt without congressional approval have advanced to the Eighth Circuit. And don’t miss our founder Philip Hamburger’s National Review piece on how government regulations threaten private space travel. His analysis underscores the need to protect innovation—from Elon Musk’s pioneering efforts to others pushing the boundaries of exploration—in the face of Big Government.

Thank you for being a part of the New Civil Liberties Alliance and for your support. Keep scrolling to learn about everything happening at NCLA. Don’t forget to click the link below to provide our attorneys with the resources they need to keep winning!

Cases to Watch

This case illustrates the absurd result of government bureaucrats policing private speech.

NCLA Asks Court to Uphold Suit Against San Antonio’s Illegal Firing of Poet for Free Speech

NCLA has filed a brief urging the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas not to dismiss NCLA client Nephtali De León’s claims against the City of San Antonio and official Krystal Jones for defamation and violating free speech rights. The City unjustly fired Mr. De León, an accomplished Chicano writer, artist, and activist, from the paid position of City poet laureate and defamed him for his supposed use of a “racial slur” in an elegy honoring a renowned Chicano writer-activist who had dedicated his career to fighting racial injustice. The City and its Executive Director of Arts and Culture Krystal Jones’s unlawful and unwarranted actions have harmed Mr. De León’s professional reputation and denigrated his life’s work. Now the government seeks to dismiss core claims of the lawsuit, which challenge and seek relief for these injustices. The full lawsuit must continue to vindicate Mr. De León’s fundamental First Amendment rights and help him restore his good name. Read more >>>

These agencies have identified no reason the current tagging system is inadequate. They cannot issue a rule just because they want it.

NCLA Sues to Stop USDA’s Illegal, Unnecessary Rule Mandating Electronic Eartags for Cattle and Bison

NCLA has filed a Complaint against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) unlawful new rule requiring electronically readable (EID) eartags for certain cattle and bison transported across state lines, rather than long-used visual tags. Representing ranchers, farmers, and livestock producers who move cattle across state lines, NCLA urges the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota to halt this illegal attempt to eliminate an already-in-place efficient means of cattle identification. Read more >>>

The CAT is the largest government-mandated mass collection of personal financial data in American history.

NCLA Presents Oral Argument in Suit Against SEC’s Unauthorized and Illegal Mass Data Dragnet

This month, NCLA Senior Litigation Counsel Peggy Little presented oral argument to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in Davidson, et al. v. Gensler, requesting a preliminary injunction to halt the Securities and Exchange Commission’s unlawful “Consolidated Audit Trail”—or “CAT”—program and opposing the government’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit. While Judge Albright agreed with NCLA on irreparable harm and acknowledged a “substantial likelihood of success on the merits,” including claims that the CAT violates the separation of powers and our Bill of Rights, he ultimately found that the balance of equities and public interest weighed in the government’s favor, leading him to deny preliminary relief. We are pleased that Judge Albright recognized the harm CAT inflicts on Americans’ civil liberties and look forward to his separate ruling on the government’s motion to dismiss.

Click here for more cases to watch

Friends of the Court

One can hardly imagine a more blatant example of government censorship than an agency ordering someone to delete speech that the agency disfavors.

In NCLA Amicus Win, Fifth Circuit Vacates Order for Elon Musk to Delete X Post About Labor

The en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has vacated a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) order requiring Tesla CEO Elon Musk to delete a post he issued using his personal X (formerly Twitter) account, ruling that the order violated the First Amendment. NLRB based its order entirely on an earlier NLRB ruling that has since been overturned in FDRLST Media v. NLRB, a First Amendment case led by the New Civil Liberties Alliance. NCLA filed an amicus curiae brief in Tesla v. NLRB urging the en banc Fifth Circuit to vacate the order. Citing the Third Circuit decision in FDRLST Media v. NLRB, the Fifth Circuit agreed with NCLA’s position, an important victory for free speech. Read more >>>

The Eighth Circuit’s preliminary injunction expanded a district court order to block all components of the SAVE plan, which exceeds the Secretary of Education’s authority under the 1993 HEA amendments.

NCLA Asks Eighth Circuit to Stop Education Dept.’s Latest Illegal Plot to Cancel Student Loan Debt

NCLA filed an amicus curiae brief in Missouri, et al. v. Biden urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to affirm its panel’s earlier preliminary injunction stopping the Department of Education’s “SAVE” plan. The Biden Administration plan rewrites the 1993 amendments to the Higher Education Act (HEA) to transform student-loan-repayment plans Congress authorized into loan-cancellation plans Congress did not authorize at a $475 billion cost to taxpayers. Since the Supreme Court overturned the administration’s previous illegal student loan debt cancellation plan last year in Biden v. Nebraska, NCLA is calling on the Eighth Circuit to reject this new unconstitutional Executive Branch attempt to wield legislative power. Read more >>>

Click here for more amicus briefs to watch.

In the News

📰 Big Government’s License to Kill Space Travel, Prof. Hamburger, National Review

📰 Stanford Holds Conference to ‘Repair Rifts,’ Reflect on Pandemic Policy and COVID Origins, The Epoch Times

📰 Uphill Legal Battle for Those Censored on Social Media, The Epoch Times

📰 How Republicans pushed social media companies to stop fighting election misinformation, CNN

📰 No ‘Third Bite’ For Ex-Lender’s FDIC Suit, Judge Rules, Law 360

📰 DOL Says Independent Contractor Case Can’t Stand, Law 360

📰 Court skeptical of challenge to EPA phase out of climate-damaging refrigerant, Reuters

📰 Attacks on Agency In-House Judges Heat Up, Blunting Enforcement, Bloomberg Law

📰 Levin and controversial public health figures address pandemic policy and academic freedom, The Stanford Daily

📰 SCOTUS Petitioner Says Newman’s Absence from the CAFC Deprived It of a Fair Shot in Eligibility Case, IPWatchdog