February 15, 2005

Congressman Conyers, Senator Feingold, and 17 Other Congresspersons file Amicus Brief Opposing Ohio Elections Contest Sanctions Motion

On February 14th, Congressman John Conyers, Jr., Senator Russ Feingold, and 17 other Congresspersons filed an amicus curiae brief in the Ohio election contest suit, in opposition to the sanctions motion brought by Ohio attorney general Petro.

The brief recommended that the Court not sanction the attorneys who brought Ohio election contest in Moss v. Bush (no.04-2088). Mr. Conyers offered the following statement:


"The attorneys in this case had reason to believe that the election results did not reflect the will of the electorate. In good faith, they brought a case based not only on statistical probability but the depositions and affidavits of computer experts, statisticians, and election volunteers. In only a couple months, these attorneys have amassed over 900 pages of evidence.


"While we take no opinion on the underlying case, we firmly support the right of citizens to challenge elections results in court when they have a good faith basis to do so. Truly, Secretary Blackwell's attempt to sanction these attorneys is meant to send a message to anyone who dare challenge his questionable election administration. For our democracy to work properly, we can't allow this sort of intimidation by state officials."

http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohamicusbriefpr21405.pdf

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