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Expert Witness

Mayberry Qualified, Testified as Expert Witness On Corporate Political Speech 

Citation 
 643 F. Supp. 397 (WD Michigan 1986), 
856 F. 2d 783 (6th Circuit 1988), 494 US 652, 110 S. Ct. 1391, 108 L. Ed. 2d 652
Tried Gerald Ford Federal Courthouse in Grand Rapids



"testimony of H. Richard Mayberry, Jr., on behalf of plaintiff, and Edwin M. Epstein, on behalf of defendants, proved especially helpful to the court. Those gentlemen each testified with much candor and expertise concerning the realities of campaign financing specifically and political elections generally. Although I must often agree with Carl Sandburg's observation that "[a]n expert is only a damned fool a long ways from home", in this case the expertise of Mr. Mayberry and Mr. Epstein aided the court's understanding of the political realities and competing interests underlying the constitutional issues raised by governmental regulation of political campaigns. Their testimony, along with the testimony of the other witnesses, informed and shaped the following discussion."

- Federal District Court Judge Hilton
emphasis added

Austin Case
 Corporate Speech Controversy 
and Citizens United

The Supreme Court, in Citizens United, adopted the reasoning from argument made in the Austin case making Austin the seminal case in corporate political rights under law controlling the 2012 presidential elections. On January 27, 2010, President Barack Obama condemned the decision Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission] during the 2010 State of the Union Address (transcript), stating that, 

"Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections. Well I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities."  wikipaedia