UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO 

WESTERN DIVISION 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

OHIO A. PHILIP RANDOLPH . Case No. 1:18-cv-357 

INSTITUTE, et al., . 

. 

Plaintiffs, . Telephonic Status Conference

. 

 - v - . . 

. Friday, July 13, 2018 

RYAN SMITH, et al., . 10:30 AM 

. 

Defendants. . Cincinnati, Ohio 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

- - - 

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS 

BEFORE THE HONORABLE TIMOTHY S. BLACK, JUDGE 

APPEARANCES: 

For the Plaintiffs: 

FREDA J. LEVENSON, ESQ. THERESA J. LEE, ESQ. 

(present by telephone) EMILY R. ZHANG, ESQ. 

American Civil Liberties Union (present by telephone) 

 of Ohio Foundation Americal Civil Liberties Union 

4506 Chester Avenue Foundation 

Cleveland, Ohio 44103 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor 

New York, New York 10004 

ROBERT D. FRAM, Esq. MICHAEL C. BAKER, ESQ. 

(present by telephone) (present by telephone) 

Covington & Burling LLP Covington & Burling LLP 

One Front Street, 35th Floor One CityCenter 

San Francisco, California 94111 850 Tenth Street, NW 

Washington, DC 20001 

For the Defendants Secretary of State Jon A. Husted, Ryan Smith 

and Larry Obhof: 

STEVEN T. VOIGT, ESQ. 

(present by telephone) 

Ohio Attorney General's Office 

Constitutional Offices Section 

30 East Broad Street, 16th Floor 

Columbus, Ohio 43215 

Proceedings recorded by stenotype; transcript

produced by computer-aided transcription.

Case: 1:18-cv-00357-TSB-KNM-MHW Doc #: 45 Filed: 07/20/18 Page: 1 of 8 PAGEID #: 440
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APPEARANCES (Continued): 

For the Defendants Ryan Smith and Larry Obhof: 

PHILLIP J. STRACH, ESQ. 

(present by telephone) 

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, 

 P.C. 

4208 Six Forks Road, Suite 1100 

Raleigh, North Carolina 27609 

Law Clerk: Jeremy D. Smith, Esq. 

Court Reporter: Luke T. Lavin, RDR, CRR 

Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse 

100 East Fifth Street, Room 103 

Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 

Telephone: (513) 564-7500 

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 P R O C E E D I N G S 

(In chambers at 10:30 AM.)

THE COURT: Good morning. This is Judge Timothy Black

on the record in the civil case of Randolph versus, I think

it's, Smith, et al. We have a number of people on the line.

Is the court reporter present?

THE REPORTER: Yes, Judge.

THE COURT: Thank you.

Do we have counsel for plaintiff on the line?

MS. LEVENSON: Yes, Judge. Freda Levenson, ACLU of

Ohio.

THE COURT: Good morning.

MS. LEVENSON: Good morning.

THE COURT: Others on behalf of plaintiff, or are you

by yourself? 

MS. LEE: Theresa Lee of --

MS. LEVENSON: I believe I'm --

MS. LEE: Theresa Lee of the ACLU, also for plaintiff.

THE COURT: Good morning.

MS. LEE: Good morning, Judge.

THE COURT: Anybody else on the line?

MS. ZHANG: Your Honor, Emily Zhang, also with the

ACLU.

THE COURT: Good morning.

Are there others on the line on behalf of plaintiff?

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MR. BAKER: Mike Baker with Covington and Burling on

behalf of plaintiff.

THE COURT: Good morning. 

Anybody else on behalf of plaintiff?

(No response.)

THE COURT: Very well.

On behalf of the defendants?

MR. STRACH: Good morning, Your Honor. This is Phil

Strach, Ogletree, Deakins, on behalf of the legislative

defendants.

THE COURT: Good morning.

MR. STRACH: Good morning.

THE COURT: Other defense counsel?

MR. VOIGT: Yes, Your Honor. Steve Voigt on behalf of

all defendants.

THE COURT: Good morning.

MR. VOIGT: Good morning.

THE COURT: Anybody else on the line on behalf of

defendants?

(No response.)

THE COURT: My law clerk --

Go ahead. Is there somebody on the line?

MR. VOIGT: I was just going to say no, Your Honor.

THE COURT: Very well.

MR. BAKER: Your Honor, this is Mike Baker of

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Covington. I think we're waiting on maybe one more person:

Rob Fram.

THE COURT: On behalf of whom?

MR. FRAM: I'm here. Rob Fram, Covington and Burling,

for the plaintiffs.

THE COURT: Okay. Has everybody on the phone, except

for me and my law clerk, entered their appearance? Anybody who

hasn't, please speak up.

(No response.)

THE COURT: Okay. My law clerk, Jeremy Smith, is on

the line. I am as well. I'm calling in.

A brief statement. The materials you have sent in appear

magnificent. You've accommodated the Court's need to start the

trial on March 4, and I like the notion that you're going to

continue the expedition by shortening the appeal, the time to

file an appeal, and both sides apparently agree on that. So

from my perspective, we've got a calendar. It's approved.

I need a little time to make sure that the other two judges

are available for the final pretrial conference and the hearing

date that you have suggested, and I hope they're available. I

think they are, but just give me a little flex on that. Beyond

that, I think we've got a calendar.

What else do we need to address, or any clarifications or

any questions of me? First, from the plaintiffs' perspective?

MS. LEVENSON: No, Judge. Thank you very much. We're

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very glad that we were able to agree on the schedule, and thank

you for allowing us the time to work it out.

THE COURT: Of course.

Anything on the legislative defendants' counsel's list of

things to harass me about today?

MR. STRACH: No, not -- not today, Your Honor. I'm

going to save that for later.

THE COURT: Very well. You've fully disclosed that to

me.

The Ohio attorney general, is there anything else you wish

to address today?

MR. VOIGT: No, Your Honor. Thank you.

THE COURT: Okay. Well, we've got a calendar. You're

going to give me a little flex on the final pretrial conference

date and time, but we will proceed ahead and docket a calendar

order today that reflects your agreed calendar, which is a

credit to you.

So is there anything else we ought to discuss today? From

the plaintiffs' perspective?

MS. LEVENSON: Not from our perspective, Judge.

Thanks.

THE COURT: From any defense counsel?

MR. STRACH: No, Your Honor.

THE COURT: Very well.

MR. VOIGT: Umm --

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THE COURT: Yes?

MR. VOIGT: Yeah. This is Steve Voigt. I just wanted

to note that we were able to file the pro hac vice motions for

Mr. Strach and Mr. McKnight from Ogletree, Deakins, and we

deposited the checks, the required checks, yesterday with the

court. So I think that that filing is now complete.

THE COURT: I agree, and we'll act on it promptly.

MR. VOIGT: Thank you.

THE COURT: Anything else from the defendants'

perspective?

(No response.)

THE COURT: Law clerk Mr. Smith, is there anything

that I've overlooked that we ought to mention?

THE LAW CLERK: No, Judge.

THE COURT: Very well. This is an extraordinary

conference.

I think we're ready to adjourn and docket your calendar

order. One last time, anybody else got anything they want to

bring to the Court's attention at this time?

(No response.)

THE COURT: Hearing no response, we've done what we've

done, and it's a credit to you. So I am going to docket your

calendar order, and at this moment I'm going to thank you all

for calling in timely and adjourn. 

So thank you for your good work, counsel. Thank you for

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calling in timely today, and we will docket your calendar

order.

Thank you, take care, and goodbye.

MR. VOIGT: Thank you. 

MR. STRACH: Bye, Judge.

MS. LEVENSON: Thank you. Bye-bye.

(Proceedings concluded at 10:35 AM.)

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C E R T I F I C A T E 

I, Luke T. Lavin, RDR, CRR, the undersigned, certify 

that the foregoing is a correct transcript from the record of 

proceedings in the above-entitled matter. 

 s/Luke T. Lavin 

Luke T. Lavin 

 Official Court Reporter 

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Case: 1:18-cv-00357-TSB-KNM-MHW Doc #: 45 Filed: 07/20/18 Page: 8 of 8 PAGEID #: 447