Supreme Court attorney Matthew McGill will discuss his work on the controversial Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission case in a free public lecture on Tuesday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. at Phillips Exeter Academy.

McGill’s topic will be “Citizens United: The Supreme Court’s Most Misunderstood Decision.” In this landmark 2010 case, the U.S. Supreme Court, citing First Amendment protections, ruled the government could not ban political spending by corporations and unions in candidate elections. McGill authored the winning brief in the case.

McGill is partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, where he specializes in litigation before the Supreme Court and other appellate courts. He has participated in more than 15 cases before the high court, authoring the winning briefs in most of those cases.

He is currently involved in another high-profile Supreme Court case, Hollingsworth v. Perry, representing the two same-sex couples who challenged California’s Proposition 8, which prohibits same-sex couples from marrying. The case will be heard by the Supreme Court this March.  

A graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy, Dartmouth College, and Stanford Law School, McGill lives with his family in Virginia.

McGill’s talk is presented by We the People, a free lecture and film series co-sponsored by the Congregational, Episcopal, and Unitarian Universalist churches of Exeter, in association with Phillips Exeter Academy and Water Street Bookstore. The lecture will be held in the Assembly Hall, which is located on the second floor of the Academy Building on Front Street, Exeter. The Academy Building is handicapped-accessible, and street parking is available.

For more information about We the People, go to www.exetercongchurch.org, or call 772-4216.