U..S. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch has observers wondering if he could be a vote to strike down campaign finance disclosure requirements if he winds up with a seat on the high court.
Such rules require candidates and political parties to disclose the source of their contributions, and are one of the few anti-corruption protections remaining after the high court’s decision in Citizens United v. Fed. Election Comm’n, 558 U.S. 310 (2010), Heather McGhee of Demos, New York, told Bloomberg BNA March 23.
McGhee testified in opposition to Gorsuch’s nomination on the final day of his confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Demos works to ensure “all have an equal say in our democracy,” according to the organization’s website.Gorsuch had an opportunity to clearly state the public benefits of campaign disclosure rules, but instead took the opportunity to suggest that such rules could actually “chill” political speech, McGhee said.But judicial nominees are limited by ethics rules in what they can say during the confirmation process, so Gorsuch’s comments during the hearing shouldn’t raise alarms, Jeff Brindle, of the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, Trenton, N.J., told Bloomberg BNA March 23.