Big news from the Ninth Circuit. The full court has denied rehearing en banc in this campaign finance case. According to the order, no active judge on the court requested a vote in the case. Among other things, the panel opinion held that a ban on non-human (e.g, corporate or union) direct contributions to candidates does not violate the First Amendment. The court also held that a temporal limitation on campaign contributions (no contributions more than a year before an election) is likely constitutional. [Disclosure: I am one of the attorneys for the City of San Diego.]
The district court in the Danielczyk case held that the federal corporate contribution ban was unconstitutional, a case now on appeal to the Fourth Circuit. The Eighth Circuit in the Swanson case held that a similar Minnesota ban was constitutional, but this case in now up for en banc consideration.
We will wait to see if Jim Bopp files a petition for cert. in this case.