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Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser talks to reporters after the U.S. Supreme Court heard her organization's challenge to an Ohio election law.
(Sabrina Eaton, The Plain Dealer)
WASHINGTON, D. C. - An Ohio law that criminalizes campaign lies was found unconstitutional and the state of Ohio was permanently blocked from enforcing it under a Thursday court decision that quoted scheming politician Frank Underwood in the Netflix TV Series "House of Cards:"
"There's no better way to overpower a trickle of doubt than with a flood of naked truth."
U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Black's decision released late Thursday vindicated a four-year challenge to the law by the Susan B. Anthony List anti-abortion group, which was accused of violating it by a congressman whom the group claimed had supported taxpayer funded abortion in voting for the Affordable Care Act.
"In short, the answer to false statements in politics is not to force silence, but to encourage truthful speech in response and to let the voters, not the Government, decide what the political truth is," Black's decision said, after quoting the television show. "Ohio's false statements laws do not accomplish this."
Earlier this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for the Susan B. Anthony List to dispute the law by determining the group had standing to launch a challenge even though it was not found guilty of a violation.
Former Cincinnati Democratic congressman Steve Driehaus charged the group with violating the law during his unsuccessful 2010 re-election campaign. He claimed its statement was false because the Affordable Care Act does not allow taxpayer-funded abortion, although he dropped his Ohio Elections Commission complaint after losing the election.
The Susan B. Anthony group said the law barring false campaign speech was unconstitutional and that a politically appointed panel shouldn't be allowed to judge the truth of political statements.
It also said it plans to post billboards in this year's election that will attack Toledo Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur in the same way that it did Driehaus. It's anti-Kaptur billboards will say: "Shame on Marcy Kaptur! Kaptur voted FOR taxpayer-funded abortion."
It argued that keeping the law in place would chill its ability to speak out, and cause the group to "suffer substantial financial, political and reputational harms, including potential criminal penalties (i.e. up to six months in prison)."
"After four years and a trip to the U.S. Supreme Court, today we finally have a victory for free speech," said a statement released after the decision by the group's president Marjorie Dannenfelser.
When asked about the upcoming billboard campaign, Kaptur spokesman Steve Fought said the anti-abortion group is "more interested in the right to lie than the right to life."
"The Susan B. Anthony List has no respect for the truth," said Fought. "Even their name is a lie. Susan B. Anthony was a progressive and there's nothing even remotely progressive about them. They should come clean and rename themselves the Sarah L. Palin List or the Ann H. Coulter List."
A spokesman for Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine declined comment on the ruling. While his office defended the law on behalf of the Ohio Elections Commission, DeWine himself filed a "friend of the court" brief that argued the law should be struck down.
DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said the office would have to consult with the Ohio Elections Commission before deciding whether to appeal the decision.
The decision said that voters, not the government, should decide political truth.
"We can all agree that lies are bad," the decision said. "The problem is, at least with respect to some political speech, that there is no clear way to determine whether a political statement is a lie or the truth, and we certainly do not want the Government (i.e. the OEC) deciding what is political truth anyway, for fear that the Government might persecute those who criticize the Government or its leaders."