A McIntyre Manifesto:

Part I

 In 1960, 53 years ago, the year I was born, the US S Ct held in Talley v California(*0) that under the First Amendment there is a right to anonymous political speech, that governments can't require identification disclimers on campaign literature.
*0 case citation and photo of talley.

 In 1995, in McIntyre v Ohio, the Court clarified that there is no elections exception to Talley.

States,and the FEC, have refused to follow Talley and McIntyre. They are still requiring identification disclaimers on political literature.

I'm going to stop them.

In this short article/long blog post I'm goihng to explain a bit about why and how.

In 1994, after finishing my LLM,* I moved to Indiana. It was the first place I'd passed the bar.

(*1) Thesis "State and Federal Constitutional Protection of Democratic Pluralism."

When I got to Indianapolis I  did what I usually do, went to the mayor's office planning to volunteer my services on any local advisory board or committee. I'd served on three in three states. I was met on the 25th floor by an armed gaurd who told me to get lost.

So I ran for a spot on the Center Township Advisory Board. While I was busy winning the Republican primary, they took down one of my signs that said "Robbin Stewart for Township Board Vote Tuesday." I told them thy shouldn't do that and they should call their lawyer. I spoke briefly with him by phone and they took down my sign. I told them they were making a mistake. This McIntyre Manifsto is a result of that mistake.

I sent a letter citing McIntyre v Ohio, which got me another call from the lawyer. I asked for a witten apology, he declined, so I sued them and won $7000 and got the statute struck down.

"Stewart contends that this case is controlled by McIntyre. Stewart is correct." Stewart v Taylor, cite 953 F.Supp.2d 1047 (S.D.Ind 1997.)
http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=17152374949245405747&hl=en&as_sdt=2,23&as_vis=1

Then the legislature repassed the same unconstitutional statute. I sued again, this time as counsel, but all I got out of it was a narrowing construction from the Indiana Supreme Court (saying 100 copies were required under the statute) and a dubitante opinion from Judge Easterbrook, a rare format which is neither a concurrence nor a dissent, but here functioned to let Judge Posner know why his majority opinion was unsound. cite. quote first paragraph of easterbrook

During the 90 day period for cert, I was falsely accused of a crime, and spent three weeks in jail before being allowed to post bail, during which I was tortured. I ended up being a day late in getting the cert petition in, and it was therefore properly denied by the court's clerk. I guess that would be the clerk who retired last week. (cite.)

  [While eventually the false charge was dropped the morning of trial, by then I was broke and crazy, and took a few years off from the practice of law. I've had a tentative offer to sell my house at a good price, which if it closes will give me money to get my law license back. Crazy or not, I think I am at a level where I could function again, at a sufficent level to satisfy my concerns about competence and professionalism. I will not attempt to have a general practice, but will confine my efforts to projects such as this one.] omit or rephrase.

In the meantime, while I wasn't practicing, I did a few amicus briefs (*2) and a bit of pro se litigation because they no longer let me vote in Indiana, since I don't consent to a search of my papers and effect as a condition of voting. I have lost those suits, usually on procedural grounds, and they were a distraction from my focus on the unfinished McIntyre project.

There are about 30 states, and an unknown number of cities, and the FEC, which have disclaimer requirements which are unconstitutional under McIntyre. I'm going to take them on one by one,
by filing suits in state and federal courts, citing Talley, McIntyre, and state constitutions.
I'll seek damages, which I usually won't get, and declaraory judgments, which I sometimes will get, and legal fees, which I sometimes will get. Jim Bopp, who does kind of this sort of thing too, has been awarded millions in legal fees. His overhead is higher than mine. I own my laptop and my shack. My overhead consists of some printing fees, but most courts have electronic filing these days. I know a guy who is indigent who can be the plaintiff.  I have a bottleneck in that I need to find cocounsel in each state, which was a problem when I teied to do this earlier, but I have some solutions in mind.

When I don't get the declaratory judgments I want, I'll be able to file appeals and petitions for certiorari. Given the split between circuits

 My ride is coming shortly so this will do as version 1.

(Marc - I think this was when we met, at Water Street coffee house.)

Part II
 Talley
McIntyre
Lower Court decisions pro and con.
The kentucky exception explored.