The City of St. Petersburg, Florida yesterday passed an ordinance designed to take the question of “Super PACs” to the Supreme Court for the first time. The ordinance, which we discussed in detail earlier this year, imposes a $5,000 limit on contributions to groups that raise money for or make independent expenditures or electioneering communications … Continue Reading
Last summer there was much ado about the two parallel efforts of a “Dream Team” of attorneys to “end Super PACs.” Their goal was to get the Supreme Court to overturn the decision of the D.C. Circuit in SpeechNow v. FEC, and similar decisions in other circuits, which led to the creation of Super PACs. … Continue Reading
Since the federal court decisions in Citizens United and SpeechNow, courts, state campaign finance regulators, and state attorneys general have consistently found that Super PACs—entities that make only independent expenditures—are not bound by contribution limits. Yesterday, a federal court in New York bucked this trend—at least preliminarily. For years the New York State Board of … Continue Reading
Yesterday, a federal judge in West Virginia ruled that the state cannot enforce its $1,000 contribution limit against Super PACs. The ruling is only preliminary and for the duration of the litigation, but the challengers were able to demonstrate a likelihood of success on their claim that the law infringes their First Amendment rights. In … Continue Reading
On August, 1, 2012, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office advised the New Hampshire Secretary of State that the state’s $5,000 statutory contribution limit should not be enforced against independent expenditure-only committees “[i]n light of the fact that the circuit courts that have addressed this issue have, to date, all found such laws to be … Continue Reading
