court opinion

McDonough v. Smith August 3, 2018

(United States Second Circuit) - Affirmed that a district attorney was not liable for malicious prosecution or fabrication of evidence. This lawsuit was brought by the former Democratic Commissioner of the Rensselaer County Board of Elections, who was acquitted in state court of forging absentee ballots in a local primary election. He contended that the district attorney who prosecuted the case had violated his civil rights. However, the Second Circuit held that the plaintiff's due process claim was time-barred and his malicious prosecution claim was precluded by absolute immunity. The panel therefore affirmed the dismissal of those claims.

On Wednesday, Oregon’s Supreme Court refused to approve Initiative Petition 43 - a state ballot proposal for an assault weapon and high-capacity magazine ban - due to the initiative’s repeated use of vague and misleading language and outright false claims to describe the proposed law to voters. Furthermore, the court directed Oregon’s attorney general to revise the language of the initiative to comply with state laws requiring Oregonians to be accurately informed about the law’s key provisions at the ballot box.