Texas state Rep. Dade Phelan (R), the at-times incomprehensible former state House speaker who led the unsuccessful impeachment effort against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, is pushing a bill that would criminalize the publication, distribution, or broadcast of certain political memes or altered media.
Critics have suggested that Phelan’s House Bill 366 is unconstitutional, stressing that it would run afoul of the First Amendment.
Phelan’s bill would require “political advertising that includes an image, audio recording, or video recording of an officeholder’s or candidate’s appearance, speech or conduct that did not occur in reality,” including media manipulated with generative artificial intelligence, to include a disclosure accounting for the meme’s creative deviations from reality.
Under the proposed law, the Texas Ethics Commission would determine what form that disclosure takes, including “the font, size, and color of the disclosure.”
Failure to include a disclosure could land Texans in jail with a Class A misdemeanor charge.
Fort Worth attorney Tony McDonald, a specialist in First Amendment litigation, told Texas Scorecard, “It’s amazing that this ridiculous bill is the top priority of the Texas House’s most powerful committee. This bill is obviously unconstitutional. It would criminalize protected speech on the basis of its content.”
‘Tryin to bolster my outlaw cred.’
When presiding over a 14-hour state House session in 2023, Phelan appeared to slur his words and have difficulty identifying a colleague. This prompted Paxton and others to allege that he was “in an obviously intoxicated state,” and to call for his resignation. Phelan dodged questions about the allegations. In the years since, criticism of Phelan has in some cases incorporated mockery of the incident.
Texas Scorecard suggested that the “Drunk Dade” call-ins to Michael Berry’s talk radio show — consisting of an impression of a supposedly inebriated Phelan — might, for instance, qualify as verboten speech under House Bill 366.
Berry noted on Monday, “DrunkDade tryin to bolster my outlaw cred,” suggesting that the parodies make Phelan “so mad he’s tryin to make it illegal.”
Phelan’s inspiration to push the bill might instead be the so-called deepfake political advertisement that targeted him ahead of the Republican primary runoff election last year.
The Texas Tribune reported that the offending political mailer, which was paid for by the Club for Growth Action PAC, featured two photoshops: one that swapped House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) out of a photograph and instead depicted Phelan hugging Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.); and another falsely depicting Phelan giving a speech at a Texas House Democratic Caucus news conference.
The mailer stated, “Texas Republicans deserve better than Democrat puppet Dade Phelan!”
Under the proposed legislation, such doctored images would require disclosures “indicating that the image, audio recording, or video recording did not occur in reality.”
Texas Scorecard indicated that Phelan did not respond to a request for comment.
The Texas Legislature’s state affairs committee will hold a public hearing on the bill on Wednesday. In the meantime, critics are sharing memes and photoshops to social media of Phelan without disclosures, demonstrating what might qualify as criminal should he get his way.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Dade phelan, Ken paxton, Censorship, First amendment, Memes, Political memes, Texas, Republican, 1st amendment, Constitution, Free speech, Politics