Breaking News: Eighth Circuit Upholds Minnesota Ban on Direct Corporate Contributions to Candidates, Minnesota Corporate IE Disclosure Rules

In Minnesota Citizens Converned for Life, Inc. v. Swanson, the Eighth Circuit unanimously upheld a district court’s decision not to preliminarily enjoin Minnesota’s ban on direct corporate contributions. (One of the three judges wrote separately to question whether the Supreme Court ultimately might overrule its Beaumont case upholding the corporate contribution ban). The court split 2-1 on Minnesota’s rules governing corporate independent expenditures, and whether the rules run afoul of Citizens United.
I was very happy to see this opinion, as I have the same issue pending in the Ninth Circuit in the Thalheimer case, where I am one of the attorneys defending the City of San Diego’s campaign contribution laws. The Thalheimer case was argued in the Ninth Circuit at the beginning of October.

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