Federal District Court Rules that Under Some Circumstances Conduit Contributions Not Illegal

See this AP report. If someone has access to Judge Ortero's 11 page order, please send it along and I will post it.

UPDATE: I have now posted the order at this link. The statutory interpretation question is fascinating, raising issues of expressio unius, the Whole Act Rule, deference to agency interpretation, and legislative history. I had never realized the potential ambiguity 2 U.S.C. s 441f.

It is not clear to me that the Ninth Circuit will agree with Judge Ortero's order, but it is a solid analysis. If this stands, Congress should act to amend the statute to make clear that conduit contributions are always illegal.

Posted by Rick Hasen at June 8, 2009 09:30 PM