On June 7, the Alliance filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in The Washington Post v. McManus, Jr. The case concerns a Maryland law that would subject news publishers to burdensome recordkeeping and disclosure requirements relating to online political ads. The District Court found the law unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds earlier this year, and the State of Maryland appealed. The amicus brief, joined by 17 other organizations, urges the Fourth Circuit to affirm the lower court’s decision. The brief reasserts that the Online Electioneering Transparency and Accountability Act is an unconstitutional, content-based regulation of free speech that is both over- and underinclusive and subject to strict scrutiny. The submission also notes that upholding the Act would degrade constitutional protections for both the internet as a whole and for news organizations that operate online. Read the amicus brief here.
Members of the News/Media Alliance staff have contributed to this post.
