“The Hottest Tool in Campaign Finance Law Enforcement Today Is More Than 100 Years Old”
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy on the Tillman Act.
Category Archives: campaign finance
Breaking: Supreme Court Rejects Stay in Crossroads Campaign Disclosure Case
With no noted dissents, the Supreme Court has turned down Crossroad GPS’s request for emergency relief from an order that will require disclosure of more of its donors who are contributing money to influence federal elections.
As I wrote… Continue reading
“Campaign Donor Disclosure Fate May Hinge on Kavanaugh Vote”
Ken Doyle for Bloomberg:
The continued secrecy of donors to campaign spending groups may depend on whether and how quickly the Senate can confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Chief Justice John Roberts reinstated in a brief order issued over… Continue reading
“Independent Spending in State Elections, 2006-2016”
CFI Release:
In the years before the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (CU), independent expenditures (IEs) in state elections were dominated by formal state and local party organizations and labor unions. In the years… Continue reading
“Congress passes bill to require Senate campaign filings to be made electronically”
Well this is a long time coming:
Congress passed a bill Thursday that would require senators to file campaign finance reports electronically through the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
The language was included in a broader appropriations bill sent to the… Continue reading
Chief Justice Roberts Issues Temporary Stay of Order Requiring Crossroads GPS and Similar Groups to Disclose Certain Donor Information to FEC
The stay looks to be an administrative one, pending further action of the Court. Witht 4 Justices strongly in favor of disclosure on the Court, I would guess that this results in an eventual denial of the stay, either by… Continue reading
“How Brett Kavanaugh could help create an era of rampant corruption”
Paul Waldman for the Plum Line.
Unanimous 7th Circuit Panel, in Opinion by Judge Skyes, Rejects Challenges to Illinois Campaign Finance Limits
“Exclusive: Audio Reveals Potentially Illegal Coordination Between NRA and Montana Senate Hopeful Matt Rosendale”
Daily Beast:
Before the National Rifle Association dropped hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to flip a competitive, Democratic-held Senate seat, the gun-rights group’s chief lobbyist apparently gave the race’s Republican challenger a heads-up.
Chris Cox, the top political… Continue reading
New Jersey: “Top 25 Special Interest Groups Spent More than $74 Million in 2017”
Release:
The top 25 special interest groups in 2017 spent more than $74 million trying to influence elections and government policy in New Jersey, according to a new analysis by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC). The analysis… Continue reading
“Dark Money Illuminated Issue One shines a light on the top 15 secretive groups spending millions of dollars to sway voters and malign candidates”
Release:
Just 15 dark money groups in the post-Citizens United era accounted for over 75 percent of the more than $800 million in political dark money spent between January 2010 and December 2016, according to Issue One’s new year-long investigation, … Continue reading
“Kavanaugh Decision Created Opening for Foreign Interference in U.S. Elections”
“Citizens United As Bad Corporate Law”
Jonathan Macey and Leo Strine have posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
In this Article we show that Citizens United v. FEC, arguably the most important First Amendment case of the new millennium, is predicated on a… Continue reading
Ninth Circuit reverses on disclosure of top contributors by charities
A Ninth Circuit panel today unanimously reversed a lower court decision barring California’s collection of IRS Form 990 Schedule B, which lists the top contributors to 501c3 organizations. This was an as-applied claim by the Americans for Prosperity Foundation and… Continue reading