Former candidates say New Jersey’s “slogan statutes” violate the First Amendment

Former candidates say New Jersey’s “slogan statutes” violate the First Amendment

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The Petitions of the Week column highlights a selection of cert petitions recently filed in the Supreme Court. A list of all petitions we’re watching is available here.

Laws governing elections and the right to participate in the political process receive varying degrees of scrutiny when challenged in court. The Supreme Court has held that election laws restricting “core political speech” trigger a high degree of suspicion under the First Amendment. By comparison, laws that simply regulate the … Read the rest

Court narrows scope of federal wire fraud statutes

Court narrows scope of federal wire fraud statutes

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For decades, the Supreme Court has steadily narrowed the scope of the federal criminal wire fraud statutes, and Thursday’s decision in Ciminelli v. United States is no exception. The court held that the federal criminal wire fraud statutes do not incorporate a “right to control” theory of fraud. The court referenced both federalism and overcriminalization concerns in narrowing the scope of the wire fraud statutes, pushing federal prosecutors to be more precise in articulating fraud cases against suspicious state … Read the rest