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O'Donnell back in the hotseat

By Richard Binder

The 9th Circuit court has reinstated criminal charges against plaintiffs' attorney Pierce O'Donnell after concluding that the section of the Federal Election Campaign Act on which he was charged applied to conduit, or indirect, campaign contributions, not just to contributions made under false names.

O'Donnell was indicted on charges that he reimbursed 13 employees of his law firm and others who had contributed $26,000 in 2003 to the presidential campaign of former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C. See The American Lawyer's article, "The Trials of Pierce O'Donnell."

Last year, a federal judge dismissed two of the three counts against him, prompting the federal government to petition the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The U.S. Federal Election Commission and several good-government groups filed amicus briefs blasting the lower court's decision as "novel" and "unprecedented."

On June 14, the 9th Circuit reversed that decision. 

Full story on NLJ.com.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on June 15, 2010 (boomark / email).