Sept 17 · Washington, DC Restore the First publicly launches at CHD’s To Form a More Perfect Future — with Sen. Ron Johnson, Sen. Rand Paul, and Rep. Thomas Massie.
Tell Congress

About the Coalition

What we are.
How we work.

An open, unincorporated citizens’ coalition — and the receipts to prove it.

What we are

Restore the First is an unincorporated citizens’ coalition convened by the six named plaintiffs in Finn et al. v. Global Engagement Center et al., No. 3:25-cv-00543 (M.D. Fla., dismissed with prejudice July 28, 2026).

We are not a 501(c)(3), a 501(c)(4), or any other tax-exempt entity. We hold no shared bank account, employ no staff, and pay no lobbyists. We are a coordinated citizens’ effort with a common ask — statutory guardrails against government-induced censorship — and a common insistence that the factual record of the last five years be preserved, obtained, tested, and published.

If and when we form a legal entity, we will disclose it here on the day it is formed, along with its structure, its principals, and its funding. Until then, this coalition is exactly what it says it is: six Americans who were named on a foreign-produced list, penalized without a hearing, and whose case was dismissed on pleading defects before the court reached standing or the underlying allegations.

Who convened it

The coalition was convened by the plaintiffs of record in Finn v. GEC:

  • Erin Elizabeth Finn — independent health journalist and publisher.
  • Sayer Ji — author, investigative writer, and founder of GreenMedInfo.
  • Rizza Islam — independent commentator and community advocate.
  • Dr. Christiane Northrup — physician, author, and women’s health advocate.
  • Dr. Ben Tapper — chiropractor and health commentator.
  • Dr. Sherri Tenpenny — physician and public commentator.

The six of us were among the individuals named in the March 2021 Center for Countering Digital Hate report identifying twelve people the report urged platforms to remove. What happened after that report is documented in our Oversight Submission and archived at the Named-Target Record.

How we work

Open coalition. Any American, of any viewpoint, who has been targeted for lawful speech by a government-adjacent intermediary is welcome to add their name, their story, and their evidence. Endorsements from organizations are welcomed and are always disclosed as organizational endorsements — not as agreement with any individual coalition member’s substantive views.

Individual endorsements, disclosed as such. Where an organization has endorsed the coalition or its supported legislation, it appears in our public marquee under Confirmed. Where an organization has been invited but has not yet formally responded, it appears under Invited. We do not inflate the difference.

No shared funding. The coalition itself accepts no donations. Individual coalition members raise money independently for their own projects (publishing, litigation, health-freedom advocacy, etc.), and those relationships are their own to disclose. If that changes — if the coalition itself begins to accept funds — we will disclose the vehicle, the sources, and the totals on this page.

One legislative ask. Our Policy Blueprint organizes 28 policy solutions around the five textual pillars of the First Amendment and tracks 55 real bills and 27 real cases live from Congress.gov and CourtListener. The full architecture is at the Policy Blueprint.

What we do not do

We do not ask the public to accept our factual allegations without evidence. We do not litigate. Our federal action is dismissed with prejudice, and we do not intend to refile.

We do not speak for any individual coalition member’s substantive claims about medicine, public health, elections, or any other subject. Our shared ask is procedural: preserve the records, hold the hearings, and enact enforceable statutory protections so that the next American named on a list does not confront the procedural trap we confronted.

We do not represent that any endorsing organization agrees with any individual coalition member’s substantive views on any other subject. Endorsement of the coalition, or of a bill the coalition supports, is exactly that and no more.

Corrections policy

We will correct any factual error and preserve the correction dated. If you believe something on this site is factually wrong — a case citation, a bill number, a date, a quotation, a status field — write to contact@restorethe1st.com with the specific claim, the correct version, and the source. We will investigate promptly, correct if warranted, and log the correction with the date.

Bill status, latest-action dates, and case docket status refresh nightly from the official Congress.gov and CourtListener APIs. Editorial framing and coalition position labels are the coalition’s own judgment and are open to challenge.

Contact

All three addresses route to the coalition’s founder while it operates without staff. Response times are best-effort.