WASHINGTON (CNS) – The Supreme Court June 16 said the Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life political advocacy group, can sue the state of Ohio over a law that bars false statements about candidates during election campaigns.

The court ruled unanimously that the lawsuit by the Susan B. Anthony List could proceed, because there’s a likelihood the legal challenge to the election law will succeed. The opinion said the organization does not have to wait until it is prosecuted under the law to challenge it on a First Amendment basis.

The case arose during the 2010 election cycle when then-Rep. Steve Driehaus filed a complaint with the state elections commission over billboard ads that the Susan B. Anthony List planned to run. The ads said Driehaus supported taxpayer-financed abortions because he voted in Congress for the Affordable Care Act.

Driehaus, a Democrat who opposes abortion, said the ads misrepresented the facts and therefore violated the law’s prohibition on false speech. The ad campaign never ran because the owner of the billboards declined to post them out of a fear of being sued.