[EL] The Federalist Papers and Anonymity

[Robbin Stewart]

A statute prohibiting anonymous letters to the editor would probably be
upheld in Kentucky. I have a half-written draft of a law review article in
search of a co-author, on the Kentucky exception to the right to anonymous
political speech. See also NOM v McKee, (1st cir. 2011), and CFIF v Tenant
(w.d.wv 2012.) While you would expect that Supreme Court cases setting out
a right to anonymous speech (Talley, McIntyre, ACLF, Watchtower) would be
followed by lower courts, this has not been the case, at least in Kentucky.

I have collected cases on disclaimers and anonymous speech at
http://shaffercase.blogspot.com/2012/04/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html

On Saturday I met a man who was once prosecuted for selling mixtapes which
did not have the name and address of the publisher on the label, as
required by Indiana statute. I would like to find him counsel to seek a
declaratory judgment that that statute is void. Andy Berry's situation is
really pretty much the same as Peter Zenger's. Zenger was prosecuted for
anonymously printing two books critical of the government, but a jury
refused to convict. The First and 7th amendments are probably the result of
the Zenger case.

On the subject of low thresholds for disclosure, the Indiana statutes are
fairly clear that a person has to raise or spend $100 before disclosure
reporting kicks in, but I have been fined a few thousand dollars by the
Indiana Election Commission re my 2010 race for the legislature, in which I
did not raise or spend any money. I'm seeking counsel if that case, if
anybody can help.

For some of my previous work about disclaimers, compare and contrast
Stewart v Taylor (s.d. ind 1997) with Majors v Abell (7th Cir. 2004).

On Mon, Jun 4, 2012 at 3:40 PM, Scarberry, Mark <
Mark.Scarberry at pepperdine.edu> wrote:

>
> ** **
>
> I also would like to put my question out once again:****
>
> ** **
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> Do we all agree that a law prohibiting anonymous letters to the editor, or
> prohibiting newspapers from printing anonymous letters would violate the
> First Amendment?****
>
> ** **
>
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