The problem is that he refuses to learn from it. Drew Edmondson (D), Oklahoma’s Attorney General who seeks to become Governor in the 2010 election, disagrees with the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals that circulating petitions for a ballot initiative limiting government spending is “core political speech,” protected for “outside agitators” (or whatever Edmondson calls them) as well as Oklahoma residents. Edmondson has announced that his quest to imprison Citizens In Charge head Paul Jacob and two others for hiring non-resident signature gatherers will end in the Supreme Court. That one’s rights to free speech and to petition government for redress of grievances don’t end at a state line is elementary constitutional law, the sort of thing 2Ls should know. But then there are many things that Oklahoma’s aspiring Governor seems not to know.
3 Comments
This post is right on the money.
One small quibble, though: the name of the Constitution-trampling state attorney general in question is Drew Edmondson, not Drew Edmundson.
That is, change the “u” to “o” in the second syllable of Edmondson.
It is W.A. Drew Edmondson who is patently and flagrantly violating the First Amendment and clearly-established constitutional rights, based on a straightforward application of U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
Done. I’m a horrible typist Hans, and tend to read things too quickly. You’d be astonished how many edits posts at my own site require after I hit the “publish” button.
[…] had the story last month about Oklahoma AG Drew Edmondson’s prosecution of Jacob for hiring out-of-state petition […]