Becker & Poliakoff shareholder Daniel Wallach (a board-certified appellate attorney) was interviewed by Adam Liptak of the New York Times as part of an article previewing the Williams-Yulee case, which is scheduled for oral argument before the United States Supreme Court on Tuesday, January 20, 2015. This important campaign finance case addresses whether a rule prohibiting judicial candidates from directly soliciting campaign contributions violates the First Amendment.
Becker & Poliakoff submitted an amicus curiae brief on behalf of three retired justices of the Florida Supreme Court (Major Harding, Harry Lee Anstead, and Stephen Grimes) and four past presidents of The Florida Bar arguing that the direct solicitation ban is necessary to avoid quid pro corruption and to preserve the public’s confidence in a fair and impartial judiciary. The amicus brief, which has received extensive national and local media coverage, tells the story of Florida’s past judicial corruption (during the 1970’s) and why Florida has an especially compelling state interest in preserving the direct solicitation ban. Mr. Liptak’s article discusses the Becker & Poliakoff brief and includes several quotes from Dan, who is a board-certified appellate attorney.
Link to NY Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/19/us/politics/supreme-court-to-review-bans-on-solicitations-in-judge-races.html