Just shy of four years since this legal battle began, lawyers from Cincinnati, Columbus and Washington, D.C. will descend upon the courtroom of Judge Timothy Black to argue cross motions for summary judgment in SBA List and COAST v. Ohio Elections Commission. The Finney Law Firm represents COAST in this action.
Until June of this year, the parties were wrestling solely over the issue of whether the plaintiffs even had standing to sue. That issue, and a companion case from 2011 involving the same client group, were resolved in June of this year by the US Supreme Court in two 9-0 decisions in our clients’ favor. You may read about those victories here.
Those decisions thus returned the cases back to the District Court for either trial or summary adjudication. The first of those to advance is before Judge Timothy Black, and this Thursday, he holds a hearing on cross-motions for summary judgment filed by both Plaintiffs and the Defendants.
The Plaintiffs’ motions were filed in anticipation that the unconstitutional law — making criminal claimed false political statements and empowering an Ohio “Ministry of Truth” (consisting of non-judges and non-attorneys) to decide truth and falsity — will be enjoined before this fall’s election
Thus, we expect — or are at least hopeful for — quick resolution of the motions by Judge Black.
