On August 21, U.S. District Court Judge Edmund A. Sargus issued a temporary injunction to block an Ohio campaign finance law. The case is O’Brien v Brunner, 2:09-cv-733, sou. dist. The law says if one candidate in a race spends a considerable amount of his or her own money, the opponents of that candidate are freed from having to obey contribution limits when they raise money. See this story. The case had been filed on August 20 by Sandra O’Brien, a Republican running in next year’s primary for Secretary of State. The injunctive relief prevents one of her opponents, State Senator Jon Husted, from immediately raising large contributions.

The outcome was not surprising, because last year the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a similar federal campaign law in Davis v Federal Election Commission.