On August 14, WilmerHale filed an amicus brief in the United States Supreme Court on behalf of a bipartisan coalition of former federal officials that includes former Attorneys General and Counsels to the President. The brief, filed in support of P.G. Sittenfeld’s Petition for a Writ of Certiorari in Sittenfeld v. United States, urges the Supreme Court to take up the question of whether a political candidate can be convicted of bribery or extortion based on political speech. 

Amici consist of former Attorneys General John Ashcroft, William P. Barr, and Michael B. Mukasey; former Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip; and former Counsels to the President Gregory B. Craig, Emmett T. Flood, and Donald F McGahn II.

The members of this group have unique expertise regarding government officials’ interaction with campaign donors and the public at large. Based on their experience as the senior-most lawyers in the Executive Branch, they also have a particular interest in the constitutional and even-handed application of the laws of the United States. They therefore urge the Court to articulate a standard that ensures that political speech, which sits at the core of the protections enshrined by the First Amendment, is not the basis for prosecutions and convictions in public corruption cases based on campaign contributions.

The brief was authored by Donna Farag, Charles C. Speth, Amanda Baird and Megan O. Gardner.