Federal Judge Overturns Ohio Law on False Campaign Ads

9/14/2014

A federal judge has overturned an Ohio law that prohibited making false statements about candidates in campaign adverstisements.

U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Black ruled that Ohio's law is unconstitutional and prohibited the Ohio Elections Commission and its members from enforcing the law.

The judge said in his ruling that the answer to false statements in politics "not to force silence, but to encourage truthful speech in response, and to let the voters, not the government, decide what the political truth is."

In June, the Supreme Court found that an anti-abortion group could challenge the law. "The Susan B. Anthony List has contended that the Ohio statute violates free speech rights and chills a wide variety of political speech."

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