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High court upholds Nevada ethics law
The Associated Press//June 13, 2011//
Listen to this articleWASHINGTON — The U,S. Supreme Court on Monday unanimously upheld a Nevada ethics law that governs when lawmakers should refrain from voting on official business because they might have a conflict of interest.
The court reversed a Nevada Supreme Court decision that said elected officials have a constitutional right to vote on official business that the state law violated.
The decision came in the case of Michael Carrigan, a Sparks, Nev., council member who voted on a casino project even though his campaign manager served as a project consultant.
Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the court, said an elected official’s vote “is not his own speech but a mechanical function of government — the commitment of his apportioned share of the legislature’s power to the passage or defeat of a particular proposal.”
Justice Scalia said conflict-of-interest rules similar to Nevada’s “have been commonplace for over 200 years.”
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