It turns out that there is a tenet in American politics that groups as diverse as the American Civil Liberties Union, the Obama administration, the anti-abortion group the Susan B. Anthony List and the Republican National Committee can agree on: Elections thrive on free speech, even if that speech contains obfuscations, mudslinging, half-truths and, occasionally, blatant lies.
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Tuesday in Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus, a case that turns on whether an Ohio law that prohibits “false statements” about candidates during a political campaign violates the right to free speech enshrined in the First Amendment.
As far as political spats go, this one started out unremarkably: In 2010 incumbent Rep. Steve Driehaus felt, as many candidates do during the course of an election cycle, lied about and mischaracterized.
The anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List (SBA) was planning a billboard campaign accusing him of supporting taxpayer-funded abortions because of his vote in favor of the Affordable Care Act — despite the fact that Driehaus considers himself pro-life and voted for the law only after the Obama administration issued an executive order specifying that no taxpayer dollars would go to abortion providers.
With Washington, D.C.’s mayoral primary days away, President Donald Trump suggested that the federal government could...
