Participated in an amicus brief (with the News Media Alliance and other amici) filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Washington Post v. David J. McManus, Jr. The brief states the district court correctly held that Maryland’s Online Electioneering Transparency and Accountability Act violates traditional First Amendment principles. The brief agrees with the lower court that the Act is a content-based regulation of speech subject to strict scrutiny, and that the State’s argument that the court should apply lesser scrutiny because the Act involves disclosure requirements should be rejected. The State can neither justify speech regulation retroactively, nor justify diminished First Amendment scrutiny, the brief argues. The Fourth Circuit should affirm the district court’s order, the brief concludes. [2019]
