The Firsthand Report ⌗7

In this issue: RIP Warner Mendenhall, national Archivist nomination hearing, Pastrana lawsuit back in court, online privacy and anti-censorship bills seek support, no reinstatement news, media radar

☞ ATTORNEY WARNER MENDENHALL passed away on June 8 after a battle with cancer. My deepest sympathies go out to his family and friends. Mendenhall was the founder of Freedom Counsel, an organization that brought together attorneys, scientists, and other experts to fight COVID mandates and other attacks on civil liberties.

He represented a group of New York City firefighters in an effort to bring their lawsuit against New York City’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, Garland v. FDNY, to the U.S. Supreme Court. (His co-counsel Scott Lloyd talked with me about the petition in 2024.) The Court declined to review that case, but Mendenhall leaves a legacy of many years of successful advocacy for individual rights and liberties.

Mendenhall spoke with me at the 2024 Rescue the Republic rally in Washington D.C., where some of the FDNY firefighters and Bravest for Choice members he was representing carried an American flag to open the rally:

☞ The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held a hearing yesterday on no fewer than 11 Trump administration nominees. One of them was BRADFORD P. WILSON, NOMINATED TO RUN THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES and Records Administration (NARA). I went into some detail about why the national Archivist is an important position back in March. The short story is that the Archivist manages all federal records, and we need someone with the technical expertise to put our digital record management house in order.

That issue was not raised during the hearing, which opened with Democratic Senator Gary Peters slamming the committee for failing to take standard steps to vet the nominees and allotting little time to question each nominee. Peters accused the committee’s Republican majority of rubber-stamping Trump’s nominees.

It sure looks like that’s what’s happening with Wilson’s nomination. Like the other nominees at the hearing, he was not given the opportunity to give a statement. Wilson was asked all of four questions, one of which was about his grandkids, who were in the audience.

☞ FORMER FDNY FIREFIGHTER O’BRIAN PASTRANA WILL BE BACK IN COURT on June 22, when his attorneys, Christina Martinez and Sujata Gibson, present oral arguments at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Pastrana sued the fire department, the health department, and New York City after being forced to retire in his mid-thirties due to heart damage following a City-mandated COVID-19 vaccination. Pastrana and Gibson talked about the case with Michael Kane’s CHD.TV show earlier this week.

The 2:00 p.m. hearing will be open to the public and Pastrana’s supporters are making plans to attend. The hearing will also be livestreamed on the court’s YouTube channel.

☞ Cyberprivacy advocate Naomi Brockwell and the Ludlow Institute are asking the public to SUPPORT H.R. 8470, THE SURVEILLANCE ACCOUNTABILITY ACT by contacting legislators and asking them to co-sponsor the bill.

The Surveillance Accountability Act, introduced in April by Representatives Thomas Massie and Lauren Boebert, reinforces Constitutional protections from search and seizure in the digital realm. It seeks to “ensure that all searches that significantly impinge on the privacy or security of a person require a warrant based on probable cause, to provide a right of action for violations of Fourth Amendment rights, and for other purposes.” Sounds good to me.

☞ Would you like to SUE THE GOVERNMENT AGENCY THAT HAD YOU CENSORED during COVID (or whenever)? If the Justice Against Weaponized Bureaucratic Overreach to Networked Expression (JAWBONE) Act becomes law, you might be able to. Here’s a little overview of what the JAWBONE Act would do.

This new piece of federal legislation has been co-sponsored by Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Democratic Senator Ron Wyden. It’s an uncommon bipartisan pairing, but that’s the point: Whether it’s the Biden administration pushing social media companies to censor COVID policy dissent or the Trump administration putting the screws to networks and late-night TV hosts, the government shouldn’t be using its power to pressure media companies into censorship.

If you agree, you can add the JAWBONE Act to your list of bills to ask your legislators to support.

☞ For those of you who are following the NYC MUNICIPAL WORKER REINSTATEMENT SAGA: You will be disappointed but I’m sure unsurprised at this point to hear that the rule change required to reinstate workers fired under the vaccine mandate has once again not been considered by the New York State Civil Service Commission this month. I’m continuing to follow this issue but don’t have any new information on it for now.

MEDIA RADAR

📡 Duty to Disobey will be shown in theaters on June 30, and tickets are available now online. The film distributed by Children’s Health Defense is about the COVID-19 vaccine mandate imposed on U.S. military service members.

While you’re waiting to see the film, check out Robert A. Green Jr.’s book about the military mandate, Defending the Constitution Behind Enemy Lines.