An injunction blocking a Kansas law barring organizations from sending mail ballot applications to voters containing personalized information was reversed by the Tenth Circuit on Tuesday,
The court upended a ruling of the US District Court for the District of Kansas, permanently enjoining the enforcement of HB 2332 after finding it is unconstitutionally overbroad and violates the Voter Participation Center’s First Amendment rights to political speech and association. The law bars third parties from pre-filling advance ballot applications of other individuals.
The trial court erred when it found the law is overly broad and violates the First Amendment right to association, the court said, in a unanimous opinion authored by Judge Harris L. Hartz. The panel remanded the claims to the lower court and directed it to enter in Kansas’ favor.
The appellate court said VPC’s associational rights were never implicated by HB 2332. It held the organization only has a “transactional” relationship with the voters it contacts and not at attempt to further a common goal.
The district court will have to examine VPC’s freedom-of-speech allegation under intermediate scrutiny, rather than strict scrutiny, Hartz said. Under this scrutiny, Kansas must prove its law is narrowly tailored to achieve the government’s “significant” government interests while leaving open ample alternative channels of communication….