Here are the final four briefs in Comm’n on Ethics of the State of Nevada v. Carrigan, No. 10-568 (cert. granted Jan 7, 2011). In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether a state statute which requires elected officials to recuse themselves from considering matters on which they appear to have conflicts of interest impermissibly infringes upon a city councilman’s First Amendment rights.
As we wrote in this month’s Zoning & Planning Law Report, this case is worth following since if the Court adopts the scrict scrutiny rationale of the Nevada Supreme Court (which invalidated Nevada’s ethics laws under the First Amendment), all similar conflict-of-interest laws could be subject to similar — and quite often “fatal” — scrutiny.
The Court will hear oral arguments next week, Wednesday, April 27, 2011.
For all of the merits and amicus briefs, visit our resource page.