Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus (13-193)
argument 13-193Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus
Supreme Court of the United States
57 min
5 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 4 days ago
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Transcript
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What is the central legal issue in Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus?
We'll hear argument first this morning in case thirteen one ninety three, Susan B. Anthony Liszt versus Stephen Drehouse. Mr. Carvin.
Mr. Chief Justice, and may it please the court, under this court's straightforward precedent, this case presents a clearly ripe and justiciable controversy. All agree the test is whether or not there's a credible threat of enforcement. Here we know that there's a credible threat of enforcement because the Commission's probable cause panel in twenty ten said that the speech at issue probably violated Ohio's false statement. Since an enforcement agency has already told us uh that this uh statement probably violates their law, we obviously face a clear and very credible threat of enforcement if we repeat those statements as we alleged we would do.
Are you making that argument on behalf of the other organization? Susan B. Anthony List, you have di accurately described what occurred. But the other organization has never been charged before the Ohio Election Commission. I is there any reason to believe anybody's gonna lodge a complaint against it? It
Well, Your Honor, when they filed their complaint, they alleged that they had not spoken those words because Susan B. Anthony had already been drawn into the uh Commission's procedures and the uh commission had already found probable cause.
How is that different? How is that any different from the people in younger who the court dismissed. as having um no standing because they hadn't been prosecuted despite The same identical claim. They were chilled. um they might intend to do something similar, etcetera.
Well as Justice uh Brennan put it in Younger, the the the speech that the other three speakers were going to engage in was not even of the same genre as that of the person who would be was being prosecuted, which is why the court uh quite correctly said that their chilling effect was based on an imaginatory or speculative uh th fear of enforcement. Whereas here, uh Coast was going to say precisely the same words that SBA had already been uh found to have probably violated the false statement law. So it was hardly imaginary or
speculative. with respect to those other three. But they had never been threatened with prosecution. I d I don't recall it made a distinction on the basis of what they wanted to talk about.
Well, uh two of the people were labor picketers that had never been threatened, and one was somebody who's simply uh teaching Marx in a classroom environment. They were quite distinct from the speaker who had been prosecuted under the incitement to violence law. And again Justice Brennan looked at their statements, compared them to the statements of the person who had been prosecuted, and said they're not even of the same genre. So we're not arguing that somebody could come in here and argue that anything that's controversial creates a credible threat of enforcement, but we've got a very specific, concrete example. Speaker A says X, that's found to have a probable cause. Speaker B quite reasonably thinks if they've just dragged Speaker A in front of this Commission and the Commission has found probable cause, there's no reason in the world to think that we won't be brought in.
But the one question is who is we don't? Not my fee. that Sisby Anthony List is considered a group with real cloud so a candidate Um might Be really concerned. About Susan meant any speech, but the other organisation maybe is Not as well funded. And the candidate says, well, a lot of things are said in political campaigns. I'll let this one go. This one doesn't hurt me as much.
Two two points, Justice Ginsburg. First, Dreehouse had shown a very av he was in the middle of a very tough reelection campaign and he had shown he was going to take all the steps he could to squelch this notion that he supported taxpayer abortion. He'd already spent all the money in terms of SBA lists, so it literally all he'd have to do is Xerox it to to uh come after Coast. But I think the key point is here is we don't have to negative every conceivable hypothetical on why Dreehouse might not do this and the Commission might not do that.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the central legal issue in Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus?
0:00–6:32
2
How does the Court define a “credible threat” of enforcement under Ohio law?
6:32–13:55
3
Why do the parties argue that the prior probable‑cause finding makes the case ripe?
13:55–21:27
4
What distinctions are drawn between this case and Younger, Babbitt, and other precedent?
21:27–29:28
5
How do the parties explain the impact of the election‑season timing on standing and ripeness?
29:28–35:10
6
What role do statistics on complaints and prosecutions play in the threat analysis?
35:10–42:48
7
How might a certification by the Ohio Supreme Court affect the scope of the false‑statement statute?
42:48–50:08
8
What relief are the petitioners seeking and why is it considered urgent?
50:08–57:30