State ex rel. Brecksville v. Husted

This was an expedited election action in which Relator, the city of Brecksville, sought writs of mandamus and prohibition to prevents Respondents, the secretary of state and Cuyahoga County board of elections, from certifying an initiative petition and submitting the initiative to electors at the November 6, 2012 general election. The petition was filed in respect to Citizens United v. Fed Election Comm. and was titled, "Initiative in support of movement to amend the U.S. Constitution to establish that corporations are not people and money is not speech" and proposed certain ordinances to city electors for their proposal. The Supreme Court (1) dismissed the purported mandamus claim for lack of jurisdiction, as the city's request actually sought a declaratory judgment and a prohibitory injunction; and (2) denied the writ of prohibition, holding that the ordinances proposed by the initiative constituted proper legislative action. View "State ex rel. Brecksville v. Husted" on Justia Law