On July 25, U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Eagles, an Obama appointee, issued a Temporary Restraining Order against enforcement of North Carolina statute 163-274(a)(9), a law passed in 1931 that makes it illegal for anyone to issue a campaign ad with any untrue statement. Here is the Complaint in Grimmett v Circosta, m.d., 1:22cv-568, which was filed on July 21, 2022.

The lead plaintiff is an individual who was involved with the production of an ad in 2020 run by the Democratic candidate for Attorney General, Josh Stein, who won his election. The Josh Stein for Attorney General Campaign is another co-plaintiff. Stein charged that his Republican opponent, a District Attorney, is about to prosecute him over one line in a Stein ad that charged his Republican opponent with letting a backlog of rape text kits accumulate. The Republican candidate said that was false because he was not responsible in his county for clearing the backlog.

According to the Complaint, that 1931 law had never before been used. The Complaint says the law violates the First Amendment.