Carvin, M
Mike Carvin focuses on constitutional, appellate, civil rights, and civil litigation against the federal government. He has argued numerous cases in the United States Supreme Court and in virtually every federal appeals court. These cases include the recent constitutional challenge to the Affordable Care Act and the decisions invalidating Sarbanes-Oxley's accounting board, preventing the Justice Department from obtaining monetary relief against the tobacco industry under RICO, overturning the federal government's plan to statistically adjust the census, limiting the Justice Department's ability to create "majority-minority" districts, and upholding Proposition 209's ban on racial preferences in California.
Mike was one of the lead lawyers, and argued before the Florida Supreme Court, on behalf of George W. Bush in the 2000 election Florida recount controversy. He also has represented state governments, financial institutions, telecommunications, and energy companies in "takings," First Amendment, civil rights, and statutory challenges to federal government actions.
- George Washington University (J.D. 1982; Law Review); Tulane University (B.A. cum laude 1978)
BAR ADMISSIONS
- District of Columbia
GOVERNMENT SERVICE
- Served with the United States Justice Department in the following senior positions: Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel (1987-1988); Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division (1985-1987); and Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division (1982-1985)
SBA List wins dismissal of libel suit by congressman
Susan B. Anthony List, a national pro-life advocacy organization and Jones Day client, was granted summary judgment on a defamation claim brought by former Member of Congress Steve Driehaus, who challenged advertisements opposing his reelection during the 2010 congressional campaign.
Washington Legal Foundation successfully challenges FDA's "off label" speech restrictions
On behalf of the Washington Legal Foundation, Jones Day filed anamicus brief in, and participated in oral argument before, the Second Circuit in an appeal involving the First Amendment limits to the FDA's regulatory regime for prescription drugs under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (the "FDCA").
Jones Day represented the National Federation of Independent Business ("NFIB") and other private parties in the landmark legal challenge to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, based on the Act's mandate that legally compelled virtually every American to obtain health insurance.
Jones Day represented Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling, Inc. and certain of its affiliates in connection with the April 20, 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig at the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico that resulted in the deaths of eleven crew members and the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
On June 28, 2010, the United States Supreme Court invalidated a key provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, ruling in favor of Jones Day clients Free Enterprise Fund and Beckstead and Watts, LLP.
The United States Court of Federal Claims awarded $356 million to Jones Day's client Washington Mutual Bank (now JPMorgan Chase Bank), with additional damages still to be awarded that could increase the award to as high as $450 million.
On behalf of Public Service Electric Gas & Electric Co. (PSEG), Jones Day obtained dismissal of a suit attempting to return to customers stranded costs recovered by the utility as part of the electric industry deregulation.
Jones Day provided successful appellate representation before the Seventh Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the University of Notre Dame regarding taxpayer standing and alleged Establishment Clause violations.
Jones Day successfully obtained and defended the dismissal of a nationwide class action complaint against its client, Electronic Data Systems Corporation ("EDS"), in this litigation concerning administration of an examination for individuals who seek to become securities brokers (the "Series 7 exam").
Jones Day represented the United States Chamber of Commerce and a group of private employers challenging portions of a 2000 California law that prevented employers from using state funds to "assist, promote or deter union organizing."
R.J. Reynolds defends massive RICO case brought by U.S. government against tobacco manufacturers
In September 1999, the United States Department of Justice sued Jones Day client R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, its major competitors, and others seeking (a) recovery of alleged excess health care insurance costs under the Medical Care Recovery Act and the Medicare Secondary Payer provisions of the Social Security Act; and (b) relief under the civil provisions of the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act ("RICO").
Jones Day represented Congressman John A. Boehner, who sued Congressman James McDermott for unlawfully disclosing an illegally recorded tape of a telephone conversation among Boehner and other House of Representatives leaders, including then-Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Jones Day represented Washington Mutual in securing a $134 million damages award against the U.S., in September 2003 after a three-week trial.
Jones Day successfully defended the Town Council of the Town of Hempstead, New York, and the Town of Hempstead, New York, in a preliminary injunction action seeking a court imposed redistricting plan.
Individuals and businesses challenge IRS regulation expanding Affordable Care Act subsidies
On May 2, 2013, a group of individuals and businesses, represented by Jones Day, filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging a new IRS regulation implementing part of the Affordable Care Act.
In September 2012, Jones Day filed an amicus brief before the D.C. Circuit on behalf of The United Company seeking affirmance of the lower court's determination that the Clean Water Act does not authorize the EPA to revoke a § 404 permit after it is issued.
Jones Day successfully defended New York Senate Majority Leader Dean G. Skelos, Chairman of the New York State Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment ("LATFOR") Senator Michael F. Nozzolio, and LATFOR member Welquis R. Lopez in a preliminary injunction action seeking a court-imposed redistricting plan.
President of Florida Senate obtains preclearance from Department of Justice for redistricting plan
Jones Day successfully represented President of the Florida Senate Mike Haridopolos in preclearance proceedings before the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
New York Senate obtains preclearance from Department of Justice for redistricting plan
Jones Day successfully represented New York Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos in preclearance proceedings before the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Jones Day represented Glenn F. McConnell, the President Pro Tempore of the South Carolina State Senate, in a three-judge federal district court case challenging the Senate districts under the Equal Protection Clause and Voting Rights Act.
Jones Day filed an amicusbrief before the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond on behalf of Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Representatives Rob Wittman, Randy Forbes, Robert Hurt, Bob Goodlatte, and Frank Wolf, in support of the defendants.
Jones Day successfully defended Senate Majority Leader Dean G. Skelos before the trial court and on appeal, in a suit challenging the constitutionality of New York's redistricting plan for the state Senate.
Jones Day successfully represented South Carolina Senate Majority Leader Glenn F. McConnell in preclearance proceedings before the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Jones Day successfully represented the State of North Carolina in preclearance proceedings before the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
In February 2009, Jones Day filed an amicus brief before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Dr. Abigail Thernstrom, who is an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and Vice Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and five former Justice Department officials.
New York public school forced to change discriminatory admission policy
In April 2008, a Jones Day Washington team won a significant victory ending a policy by the New York City Department of Education ("NYDE") that effectively discriminated against minority students applying to a prestigious public middle school in Brooklyn.
Jones Day obtained on behalf of Verizon Wireless vacatur of the district court's preliminary approval of a tentative classwide settlement and a judgment on the pleadings in consolidated putative class actions brought under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA).
Jones Day represented Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in a pay discrimination action that resulted in an important decision for employers.
Colorado voters challenge constitutionality of Colorado's voting district map in U.S. Supreme Court
Jones Day represented the Colorado General Assembly when four Colorado voters brought suit under §1983 to challenge the constitutionality of Colorado's voting map.
Jones Day represented computer manufacturer Dell Inc. in a case challenging the constitutionality of nearly $250 million in financial incentives provided by the State of North Carolina.
Jones Day represented the Maricopa County Attorney in a civil rights action challenging the establishment of separate DUI courts for Native American and Spanish speakers.
University of Notre Dame successfully defends ability to receive AmeriCorps funding
Jones Day represented the University of Notre Dame in defending against an Establishment Clause challenge to AmeriCorps funding received by Notre Dame education students providing secular services in parochial schools, culminating in a favorable decision by the D.C. Circuit.
Jones Day represented R.J. Fitzgerald & Co., Inc., in seeking review in the U.S. Supreme Court in this case involving the standards for commodities fraud.
The City of Jackson, Mississippi, retained Jones Day to represent it before the U.S. Supreme Court in this case, which presents the question whether "disparate impact" claims are available under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.
Jones Day was retained to prepare a petition urging U.S. Supreme Court review of the Colorado Supreme Court's decision invalidating a congressional redistricting plan enacted by the state legislature in 2003.
Jones Day represented voters and political party officials in a case in which other voters claimed that Virginia's 2002 congressional redistricting plan violated the Voting Rights Act.
Jones Day helped Goodrich Corporation ensure that its internal solicitations for contributions to its PAC comply with federal election law.
Jones Day helped Diebold formulate its corporate code of ethics, specifically provisions dealing with political activity and campaign contributions.
Jones Day lawyers successfully defended a state legislative redistricting plan against challenge by voters claiming that New York's 2002 state senate redistricting plan violated the Fourteenth Amendment and the Voting Rights Act.
Representing the South Carolina state senate in federal court proceedings, Jones Day helped to establish redistricting plans for use after the 2000 census.
==
EW YORK -- A little-known group of powerful Republican activists and donors with experience in campaigns across the country have coalesced in an attempt to overturn a New York state law limiting individual money in politics, and influence the New York City mayoral race in the process.
The Republicans at the center of New York Progress and Protection PAC wouldn't say how much money they intend to spend to aid Joe Lhota's underdog candidacy against the heavily favored Democrat Bill de Blasio. But they say multiple would-be donors are lined up to contribute more than $150,000 -- the current annual maximum allowed in New York -- if a judge grants them an injunction in their lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the limit.
"It's about free speech. Free speech is the reason why I'm doing lots of things," Shaun McCutcheon, one of those would-be donors, told The Huffington Post. "It's about our rights as people under the First Amendment."
The NYPP's contention that New York state's campaign contribution ceiling violates First Amendment protections will be heard in federal court on Oct. 8. Handling the legal strategy is Michael Carvin, a Washington-based attorney specializing in campaign law who represented George W. Bush during the 2000 recount. Last year, he appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court to unsuccessfully challenge the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.
"This is plainly unconstitutional," Carvin told HuffPost about the New York law. He said it requires "immediate relief" because "my client wants to able to speak on the mayor's election."
"The timing is critical because there's very little time left," he added. Indeed, Election Day is Nov. 5.
Though it's unclear if the case will get resolved quickly, even groups that support keeping the limit in place acknowledge there's a good chance the PAC will win. Amy Loprest, executive director of the city's campaign finance board, said Friday she's "deeply concerned" by the lawsuit.
Critics said Republicans behind the PAC are ideologically opposed to campaign spending laws wherever they exist.
"There's this assault on federal election law that's going on around the country. They keep on chipping away," said Bill Allison, editorial director of the pro-transparency Sunlight Foundation. "There's this very determined, stealth legal campaign and it involves establishment figures and people who are outside the mainstream. Wherever there's a limit, they're looking to overturn it."
The GOP players linked to the NYPP include a lineup of heavy hitters. In addition to Carvin, there's McCutcheon, an electrical engineer from Alabama with deep pockets. He'd give at least $200,000 to NYPP if it weren't for the cap, according to the complaint filed in New York federal court last Wednesday. Federal elections records show he's given at least $442,959 to congressional candidates, conservative PACs, and Alabama's Republican Party, among others, since 2008. That doesn't cover contributions for state and local races.
McCutcheon also happens to be at the center of perhaps the most important campaign finance case since 2010, when the Supreme Court handed down its Citizens United decision, which flooded money into politics via super PACs. On Oct. 8, the Supreme Court will hear McCutcheon's challenge to the federal law that limits the aggregate amount individuals can give to candidates.
Back in New York, Lhota trails de Blasio by more than 40 points in some recent polls. Though helping Lhota win is perhaps a secondary goal compared to peeling back the campaign finance law, McCutcheon says he thinks the former head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority could pull out a surprise victory with the help of outside money.
"If you get a little competition, we can win some races nobody thinks we can win," he said.
The founder of NYPP, meanwhile, is Craig Engle, an attorney based in Washington, D.C. who created the political law division of Arent Fox, a high-end law firm. From 1999 to 2000, he was general counsel to the National Republican Senatorial Committee. He also created one of the first super PACs in the wake of the Citizens United decision, and his firm's biography touts his skills as an adviser in the formation of super PACs as his forte.
Engle didn't respond to HuffPost's requests for comment for this article.
The well-heeled McCutcheon was introduced to Engle by Dan Backer, another GOP lawyer in Washington who specializes in fighting campaign finance reforms in court, McCutcheon and Backer said. Backer has spoken at the annual conservative summit CPAC, and in 2011 he was part of a team of lawyers that won a significant case against the Federal Election Commission.
The Carey v. FEC verdict allowed PACs for the first time to collect unlimited amounts of "soft money" for independent expenditures as long as it's kept separate from money that's directly given to candidates for office.
"We're conservatives," Backer explained, "and we're in the same circles of law."
Backer and McCutcheon also described Lhota as a conservative, though his support for same-sex marriage, abortion rights and marijuana legalization are not found on the standard conservative platform.
Lhota has said he supports the work of the outside groups supporting him -- including New Yorkers for Proven Leadership, a separate PAC that has received contributions from billionaire David Koch and his wife Julia -- which must operate independently of his campaign.
"I believe this is a First Amendment issue," he said last week. "It's about freedom of speech."
De Blasio's spokesman Dan Levitan criticized the PAC's attempts to sway the election and upend the state's campaign finance regulations in an email to HuffPost.
"Right-wing Republican operatives are suing to dismantle New York's election laws so they can funnel millions trying to elect Republican Joe Lhota, but New Yorkers won't let Tea Party extremists undermine our campaign finance system," he said."
But the NYPP characterized its lawsuit as principled stand against an unjustifiable law.
"It's an anachronism. Every court that's heard arguments about law similar to this have them struck down," Carvin said. "It's really very straightforward legally."