Press release via email:

The Institute for Free Speech applauds the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals’ significant and unusual decision to rehear Calzone v. Missouri Ethics Commission. 

The case concerns a Missouri law that forces unpaid citizen activists to comply with the same registration, reporting, and disclosure requirements as professional lobbyists. In November, a three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit upheld that law (over a dissent by Judge David Stras) against a challenge by Ron Calzone, a Missouri citizen, who regularly testifies before the Missouri General Assembly. As Judge Stras argued in his powerful dissent, “The [Missouri] law seemingly sweeps up all unpaid political advocacy by anyone who acts on behalf of someone else, no matter how often it occurs and regardless of its purpose.”
 
On Monday, the Eighth Circuit vacated the panel ruling and granted en banc review.