09/27/2020
DC Republican Voting Litigation Attorneys Have Arrived In North Carolina
Cooper & Kirk, PLLC
https://www.cooperkirk.com/
The firm also represented members of the Duke lacrosse team, in connection with civil litigation against Duke University and Durham. Political litigation below. Principal attorneys on this case.
Local counsel â Phelps Dunbar, Raleigh - Nathan A. Huff
Brian W. Barnes
Brian Barnes is a partner at Cooper & Kirk and has litigated cases at all levels of the federal courts on a range of matters, including financial regulation, takings, and constitutional law. He also successfully represented the plaintiffs in the first suits to be brought on behalf of property owners against state-licensed ma*****na businesses under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (âRICOâ). Mr. Barnes clerked for Justice Samuel Alito of the United States Supreme Court during the October 2012 term and also previously served as a law clerk to Judge Thomas Griffith of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Mr. Barnes graduated from Yale College, magna cm laude, in 2006 and graduated from Yale Law School in 2010, where he was an Articles Editor for the Yale Law Journal and a member of the Yale Supreme Court Clinic. Mr. Barnesâ student note on insurance rescission was published in the Yale Law Journal and is cited in numerous treatises on insurance law.
Charles J. Cooper
Charles J. Cooper is a founding member and chairman of Cooper & Kirk, PLLC. Named by The National Law Journal as one of the 10 best civil litigators in Washington, he has over 35 years of legal experience in government and private practice, with several appearances before the United States Supreme Court and scores of other successful cases on both the trial and appellate levels. Mr. Cooper has represented some of the biggest names in American politics, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions in response to the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, Attorney General John Ashcroft, and former National Security Adviser and United States Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton.
Shortly after serving as law clerk to Judge Paul Roney of the Fifth (now Eleventh) Circuit Court of Appeals, and to Justice (later Chief Justice) William H. Rehnquist, Mr. Cooper joined the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in 1981. In 1985 President Reagan appointed Mr. Cooper to the position of Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel. Mr. Cooper reentered private practice in 1988, as a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of McGuire Woods. From 1990 until the founding of Cooper & Kirk in 1996, he was a partner at Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge where he headed the firmâs Constitutional and Government Litigation Group.
Mr. Cooperâs practice is national in scope and is concentrated in the areas of constitutional, commercial, and civil rights litigation. He is currently representing private clients in a variety of commercial cases, including antitrust, intellectual property, and contract disputes. Mr. Cooper also represents a number of state and local government bodies, as well as private clients, in a wide range of constitutional and federal statutory cases.
In 1998 Mr. Cooper was appointed by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist to serve as a member of the Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure of the Judicial Conference of the United States. Mr. Cooper is a member of the American Law Institute and the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, and he has spoken and published extensively on a wide variety of constitutional and legal policy topics.
Election Law
We regularly advise political campaigns, political action committees, and issue advocacy organizations on compliance with and challenges to federal election laws. As principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, Mr. Cooper had supervisory responsibility over voting rights litigation conducted during the first term of the Reagan Administration. In private practice, Mr. Cooper has continued to litigate numerous voting rights cases arising both under the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution. Mr. Cooper served as the National Co-Chair of Lawyers for Bush and was one of the architects of the campaignâs post-election litigation strategy. Cases that we have litigated in this area include:
⢠Johnson v. Governor of Florida, 405 F.3d 1214 (11th Cir. 2005).
We represented Governor Jeb Bush and the other members of Floridaâs clemency board in their defense of Floridaâs felon disenfranchisement laws against a class action filed on behalf of 400,000 convicted felons. The plaintiffs brought suit under the Fourteenth Amendment and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The district court granted our motion for summary judgment. After an adverse ruling from a dividend panel, the Eleventh Circuit sitting en banc affirmed the dismissal of the suit.
⢠Rossello-Gonzalez v. Calderon-Serra, 398 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2004).
We successfully represented the Governor-Elect of Puerto Rico in a recount dispute in connection with the 2004 elections. The opposing candidate for governor challenged the validity of several thousand ballots. Although the district court ruled in favor of the opposition candidate after trial proceedings, the First Circuit reversed and ruled in favor of our client who served as the Commonwealthâs governor.
⢠McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, 540 U.S. 93 (2003).
We represented the National Rifle Association in its challenge to the constitutionality of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. The statute prohibits corporations from airing television and radio advertisements mentioning a federal candidate in the 60 days prior to an election. Our suit sought to invalidate this prohibition on First Amendment grounds. In a 5-4 decision, the Court upheld the statute. But our arguments were later accepted by the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. FEC.
⢠Federal Election Commission v. NRA Political Victory Fund, 513 U.S. 88 (1994).
We represented the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund in an action brought by the FEC alleging violation of campaign contribution regulations. We successfully argued that the composition of the FEC violated the separation of powers. More recently, we represented the NRA in its challenge to the FECâs role in implementing the McCain-Feingold legislation.
⢠DSCC a/k/a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, et al. v. Michael Ertel, in his official capacity as Florida Secretary of State, et al. On behalf of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Florida Senator Rick Scott, we successfully defended challenges to several Florida election regulations that create standards for election canvassing boards to attempt to determine voter intent when the voter has not properly filled out their ballot. As a result of these victories, Floridaâs Elections Canvassing Commission certified Senator Scott as the winner of the stateâs 2018 Senate race.
https://www.scribd.com/document/477634029/North-Carolina-Voting-Litigation-Complaint-Moore-v-Circosta-2020-09-26
1 The North Carolina State Board of Elections is generally five members. Two members resigned on September 23,2020, alleging they had not been properly advised of the consequences of the Boardâs policy changes as reflected inthe Memoranda. See âBlindsidedâ: GOP Elections Board Members Resign O...
