Brown v. Yost

In collaboration with co-counsel, ICAP represented a group of Ohio citizens asserting a First Amendment challenge to the state’s ballot-initiative process. Under Ohio law, citizens sponsoring a ballot initiative must submit their private political speech—in the form of a summary of their proposed law or constitutional amendment—to the Attorney General for his preapproval. Only if the Attorney General determines that the citizens’ speech is “fair and truthful” may they circulate their petition. Attorney General Dave Yost exercised this review authority to trap the plaintiffs in an endless loop of edits because he disagreed with their point of view, causing them to miss years of election cycles. The district court granted plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, agreeing with the plaintiffs that the fair-and-truthful review provision violates plaintiffs’ free speech rights. Following multiple appeals, including review by the en banc Sixth Circuit and the denial of a stay by the Supreme Court, plaintiffs’ injunction remains in place.