Grimmett, Ralston Lapp Guinn Media Group & Josh Stein for Attorney General Campaign v. Circosta (M.D.N.C.), filed yesterday, seeks to invalidate N.C. Gen. Stat. § 163-274(a)(9), which makes it a crime:
For any person to publish or cause to be circulated derogatory reports with reference to any candidate in any primary or election, knowing such report to be false or in reckless disregard of its truth or falsity, when such report is calculated or intended to affect the chances of such candidate for nomination or election.
Note that this is limited to lies about candidates, so it's similar to a criminal libel statute, albeit one enforced through the N.C. State Board of Elections rather than through the normal criminal justice process; according to the News & Observer (Will Doran), Attorney General Stein claims that the law "is nearly a century old and yet no one had been prosecuted under it," at least until the complaint against his campaign.
