U.S. Supreme Court Reverses Nevada High Court, Upholds Nevada’s Ethics Law
CARSON CITY – The U.S. Supreme Court today upheld Nevada’s ethics law in a case involving a Sparks city councilman. The opinion reversed a ruling by the Nevada Supreme Court.
The court, in an 11-page opinion written by Justice Antonin Scalia, said Nevada’s ethics law does not impinge on elected officials’ free speech rights by imposing limits on when they can vote on public matters because of conflicts of interest.
How can it be that a restriction on a public official’s right to vote is not a restriction on free speech? Scalia asked in the opinion.
“The answer is that a legislator’s vote is the commitment of his apportioned share of the legislature’s power to the passage or defeat of a particular proposal,” he said. “The legislative power thus committed is not personal to the legislator but belongs to the people; the legislator has no personal right to it.”
The case is called Nevada Commission on Ethics v. Carrigan. In 2006, Sparks city councilman Michael Carrigan had disclosed that his former campaign manager, Carlos Vasquez, was also a consultant with a business seeking to develop a hotel-casino in Sparks. Carrigan later voted for approval of this casino in a land-use vote.
The Nevada Commission on Ethics ruled the vote improper and censured Carrigan, who appealed the ruling.
The Nevada Supreme Court, however, reversed the decision on the basis that Nevada’s ethics laws were over-broad and impinged on Carrigan’s ability to vote on public matters, a matter the court characterized as free speech.
The case took on national importance. Eight other states had implored the court to take up the issue, and a high-powered team at the University of Virginia School of Law that helped petition the court to hear the case has now agreed to argue the case before the court.
The decision by the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the state Supreme Court.