Last Updated: May 16, 2012 at 12:02 PM
Wagner v. Federal Election Commission
Case Information
Date Filed: October 19, 2011
State: Washington, D.C.
Issue: Campaign Finance
Current Court: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Case 1:11-cv-01841)
Issue:
Whether a federal statute barring individuals who have government contracts from making political contributions is constitutional.
Status:
Complaint filed 10/19/2011
District Court Documents
- Complaint
(filed 10/19/11) - Declaration of Service of Process on the FEC (filed 10/27/11)
- Plaintiff's Motion to Certify Facts (filed 11/17/11)
- Defendant FEC Opposition to Plaintiff's Motion to Certify Facts (filed 12/05/11)
- Defendant's Answer to Plaintiff's Complaint for Declaratory Relief (filed 12/19/11)
- Amended Complaint (filed 1/31/12)
- Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction (filed 1/31/12)
- Motion to Intervene of Steve Schonberg (filed 2/14/12)
- Answer to Amended Complaint (filed 2/17/12)
- Plaintiffs' Opposition Schonberg Motion to Intervene (filed 2/20/12)
- Reply to Opposition to Motion to Intervene (filed 2/28/12)
- Order Denying Motion to Intervene (filed 3/01/12)
- Memorandum Opinion on Motion to Intervene (filed 3/01/12)
- Reply in Support of Motion For Preliminary Injunction (filed 3/12/12)
- Opinion Denying Motion for Preliminary Injunction (filed 4/16/12)
PDF files in this site require
Commentary
Provisional Ballots, Consent Decrees, and the Balance Between the Federal and State Governments
Owen Wolfe
A recent mandamus action filed by the Ohio Senate President and House Speaker Pro Tempore to require the Ohio Secretary of State to rescind directives issued in response to a consent decree issued in a federal case dealing with counting provisional ballots raises questions about the mechanics of state election law, the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the relationship between federal and state courts, the law of consent decrees, and more. I have attempted in this article to grapple with these issues in a fair and unbiased manner. Given the complexity of this problem, however, these matters are open to a variety of interpretations and this is just one approach. I hope, however, that this article can provide a useful starting point for a discussion about the future of provisional voting in Ohio and in the nation at large.
This paper is a first look by a student member of the Election Law @ Moritz team and reflects one possible perspective on the issue. Stay tuned, as more analysis from the team will follow as the litigation develops. Owen Wolfe is affiliated with the Ohio Democratic Party and the Obama ’12 campaign, but is not in any way associated with any litigation team working on this case. EL@M has posted the document because we believe it has public value and adds to the discourse on this topic.
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