By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//September 25, 2014//
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit
Civil
Civil Procedure — Abstention
Federal courts lack authority to enjoin state John Doe proceedings to protect the First Amendment rights of the targets.
“The Supreme Court has yet to determine what ‘coordination’ means. Is the scope of permissible regulation limited to groups that advocate the election of particular candidates, or can government also regulate coordination of contributions and speech about political issues, when the speakers do not expressly advocate any person’s election? What if the speech implies, rather than expresses, a preference for a particular candidate’s election? If regulation of coordination about pure issue advocacy is permissible, how tight must the link be between the politician’s committee and the advocacy group? Uncertainty is a powerful reason to leave this litigation in state court, where it may meet its end as a matter of state law without any need to resolve these constitutional questions.”
Reversed and Remanded.
14-1822, 14-1888, 14-1899, 14-2006, 14-2012, 14-2023 & 14-2585 O’Keefe v. Chisholm
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Randa, J., Easterbrook, J.