The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday ruled a state statute governing electoral publications is “invalid,” ordering dismissal of a criminal complaint against the treasurer of Jobs First Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee. The super PAC had targeted Rep. Brian Mannal, a Barnstable Democrat running for re-election, claiming in a mailer that Mannal “is putting criminals and his own interest above our families.”
In the run-up to election day, Mannal responded by filing a criminal complaint against Melissa Lucas, the group’s treasurer, claiming that the false statements the group published “could put her behind bars.” The legal action relied on a 1946 law that criminalizes any false statement designed to help or hurt a candidate for office.
The court ruled that the statue “chills the very exchange of ideas that gives meaning to our electoral system” and for those reasons it is “antagonistic to the fundamental right of free speech.”
Full Article: Massachusetts SJC rules ‘invalid’ 1946 law on false statements in elections | masslive.com.