[EL] New Name

[Smith, Brad]

Listers:

I am pleased to announce that the Center for Competitive Politics (CCP) has changed its name to the Institute for Free Speech.

While our name has changed, our mission will remain the same. Since our founding in 2005, we have fought for First Amendment political speech rights in every significant court case where they were at stake.

When CCP started, it was important to emphasize that limits on speech not only made elections less free, but also less competitive.  Unfortunately, our old name often confused people about our objectives, especially those unfamiliar with our work. Most Americans support free speech. We want people to know who we are and what we’re about from the first moment they meet or learn about us.

Over the last decade, we’ve won many battles against laws that sought to directly limit or prohibit speech, especially in SpeechNow.org v. FEC. Nevertheless, today, attacks on free speech continue in the form of arcane laws and regulations at every level of government. These laws are so complex that people often need a lawyer in order to avoid punishment for speaking. We’ve also made it a priority to fight efforts to violate donor privacy rights. Such laws often enable harassment of individuals and organizations that choose to speak out about powerful government officials.

Our new name, the Institute for Free Speech, will better convey our mission to policymakers, journalists, judges, and potential supporters.  We believe it will help us become even more effective at defending the political rights to free speech, press, assembly, and petition guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Our rebranded website appears at www.ifs.org<http://www.ifs.org> and all of our staff emails will also go through that domain name.

Thank you all,

Brad


Bradley A. Smith, Chairman

Institute for Free Speech

and

Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault

   Professor of Law

Capital University Law School

303 E. Broad St.

Columbus, OH 43215

614.236.6317

http://law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.aspx
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