[EL] Ohio AG Files 2 Briefs–On Opposite Sides–in SCOTUS False Speech Case

[Rick Hasen]

Sorry: that should read "that the AGs believe are */un/*constitutional."

On 3/4/14, 7:32 AM, Rick Hasen wrote:
>
>
>     Ohio AG Files 2 Briefs–On Opposite Sides–in SCOTUS False Speech
>     Case <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=59221>
>
> Posted on March 4, 2014 7:31 am 
> <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=59221>by Rick Hasen 
> <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>
> Yesterday Ilinked <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=59212> to anarticle 
> <http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/03/03/DeWine-Ohio-Election-law.html> 
> about Ohio SG Mike DeWine filing a brief against the constitutionality 
> of Ohio’s false campaign speech law. On Twitter, I noted that DeWine 
> seemed to be following in the footsteps of Eric Holder and some state 
> AGs who have refused to defend various laws that the AGs believe are 
> constitutional.
>
> Well it turns out that DeWine doesn’t fit into this category, at least 
> not for this case.  Thanks to Jonathan Adler, here is a copy of the 
> brief from the Susan B. Anthony case. 
> <http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/13-193-ac-Ohio-AG-DeWine-Final.pdf> 
> And here is the statement from DeWine at the beginning of the brief:
>
>     The Attorney General makes this filing in fulfillment of his
>     duties as Ohio’s chief law officer, as an officer of the Court,
>     and as an independently elected state official. His position as
>     amicus here is independent of his representation of the Ohio
>     Elections Commission Defendants. He continues zealously to
>     represent those State Defendants in a separate capacity, acting
>     through experienced lawyers in the Constitutional Offices section
>     of the Attorney General’s office.2 As set forth below, the
>     Attorney General does not express the concerns raised in this
>     brief lightly, but has concluded that this Court may benefit in
>     its deliberations from further discussion of the actual workings
>     and effect of the Ohio false statements statute in practice. [2
>     The Attorney General has screened counsel on this brief from
>     contact with those attorneys, and has arranged pro bono outside
>     counsel for the preparation and filing of this brief.]
>
> This is not unprecedented. In The Nine Lives of Buckley v. Valeo 
> <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1593253> I tell 
> the story of infighting in the Ford Administration over Buckley v. 
> Valeo, and how that led to the filing to two briefs, one for the FEC 
> supporting the federal campaign finance law and the other, drafted by 
> Robert Bork, supposedly “neutral” but actually making the case against 
> the constitutionality of aspects of the law.
>
> Share 
> <http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D59221&title=Ohio%20AG%20Files%202%20Briefs%E2%80%93On%20Opposite%20Sides%E2%80%93in%20SCOTUS%20False%20Speech%20Case&description=>
> Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, 
> Supreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
>
> -- 
> Rick Hasen
> Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
> UC Irvine School of Law
> 401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
> Irvine, CA 92697-8000
> 949.824.3072 - office
> 949.824.0495 - fax
> rhasen at law.uci.edu
> http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
> http://electionlawblog.org
>
>
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-- 
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
949.824.0495 - fax
rhasen at law.uci.edu
http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org

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