“Both Sides Ask Dismissal of Public Financing Appeal”

Gavel Grab reports.  The legal question in the Wisconsin case is a very interesting one.  May a public financing system like the one the Supreme Court struck down in Arizona Free Enterprise as violating the First Amendment be constitutional when applied in judicial elections, on grounds that the state’s interests in regulating campaign finances in judicial elections are stronger than in legislative elections.

More generally, one question I’ve been thinking about is when the state’s interests in promoting an impartial judiciary, due process rights of litigants, and public confidence in the fairness of the judicial process justify laws regulating judges and judicial candidates which would we unconstitutional under the First Amendment when applied to legislators or legislative candidates?

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