Litigation

O?Connor to Speak on Two Supreme Court Cases

By Peter Hardin

Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who has championed an end to state judicial elections, will headline a conference in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 26 and discuss two Supreme Court cases tied to the debate.

One of the cases is Caperton v. Massey, a landmark decision declaring that campaign spending can damage a litigant?s right to a fair trial. The other is Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, an important campaign finance regulation case, which still is pending before the high court.

The Blog of Legal Times wrote a post about the upcoming conference, co-sponsored by the Georgetown University Law Center and the Aspen Institute’s Justice and Society program. Exploring how Citizens United might extend to state judicial elections, BLT noted that according to an amicus brief in the case by 26 states, 24 states limit or bar campaign expenditures by corporations–and a decision in Citizens United could jeopardize that regulation.

Among other scheduled speakers at the conference are Utah Chief Justice Christine Durham, president of the Conference of Chief Justices; former American Bar Association president H. Thomas Wells Jr.; and Bert Brandenburg, director of Justice at Stake. You can learn more about Citizens United from an amicus brief submitted by Justice at Stake or from Gavel Grab, and you can read about Caperton in Gavel Grab and in another JAS amicus brief.

Full post as published by The Gavel on January 15, 2010 (boomark / email).