Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus (573 U.S. 149)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 16, 2014 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 573 U.S. 149 · 134 S. Ct. 2334
- Decided
- June 16, 2014
- Term
- October Term 2013
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Thomas
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice THOMAS delivered the opinion of the Court. Petitioners in this case seek to challenge an Ohio statute that prohibits certain "false statements" during the course of a political campaign. The question in this case is whether their preenforcement challenge to that law is justiciable-and in particular, whether they have alleged a sufficiently imminent injury for the purposes of Article III. We conclude that they have. I The Ohio statute at issue prohibits certain "false statement[s]" "during the course of any campaign for nomination or election to public office or office of a political party." Ohio Rev.Code Ann. § 3517.21(B) (Lexis 2013). As relevant here, the statute makes it a crime for any person to "[m]ake a false statement concerning the voting record of a candidate or public official," § 3517.21(B)(9), or to "[p]ost, publish, circulate, distribute, or otherwise disseminate a false statement concerning a candidate, either knowing the same to be false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not," § 3517.21(B)(10).1 "[A]ny person" acting on personal knowledge may file a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission (or Commission) alleging a violation of the false statement statute. § 3517.153(A) (Lexis Supp. 2014). If filed within 60 days of a primary election or 90 days of a general election, the complaint is referred to a panel of at least three…
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