Breaking: West Va. Supreme Court Rejects Extra Matching Funds in State Judicial Elections

You can find the unanimous opinion of the state Supreme Court (with three Justices recusing) at this link. In theArizona Free Enterprise Club case, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the First Amendment bars public financing plans which give extra matching funds when a participating candidate faces large spending from an opponent or outside entity.  The West Virginia case considered whether such plans might be constitutional in judicial elections, on grounds that the state’s interest in public financing of judicial elections are different.  Today the W. Va. court rejected such arguments.

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