ELB Book Corner: Ann Southworth: “$peech”

February 14, 2024, 5:35 amcampaign finance, ELB Book Corner, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

I am pleased to welcome Ann Southworth to the ELB Book Corner, author of the new book, Big Money Unleashed: The Campaign to Deregulate Election Spending (Chicago). The discount code for ELB readers is BIGMONEY2023. This is the first… Continue reading

Justice Souter Fought to Avoid Applying “Exacting Scrutiny” to Contribution Limits in McConnell Case

May 10, 2023, 7:40 amcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Jimmy Hoover for the National Law Journal, examining the Stevens papers: Among the many insights from Stevens’ papers are the once-private internal court memos in which justices offer suggestions or critiques of each other’s draft opinions in particular cases. The… Continue reading

Breaking and Analysis: Dividing on Ideological Lines and Breaking Little New Ground in FEC v. Cruz, Supreme Court Strikes Down Another Part of McCain-Feingold law

May 16, 2022, 7:49 amcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

The result and lineup in today’s Supreme Court decision in FEC v. Cruz is no surprise: all the conservatives on the Court signed onto Chief Justice Roberts’ opinion holding that a loan repayment provision of the McCain-Feingold law is unconstitutional;… Continue reading

“FEC report shows how national party committees allegedly blow past contribution limits”

January 15, 2022, 7:27 pmUncategorizedNicholas Stephanopoulos

Persuasive evidence that circumvention of federal contribution limits has occurred since McCutcheon struck down the aggregate limits. A fundraising committee operated jointly by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee in 2016 served as a vehicle for state parties… Continue reading

A Worrisome Run to Get the Supreme Court to Overturn the Ban on Corporate Campaign Contributions to Candidates, This One from a Leading Supreme Court Litigator Involving the Father of a Former Ky Democratic Secretary of State

December 28, 2021, 4:23 pmcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the ban on corporate contribution limits in the 2003 case, FEC v. Beaumont. And in Buckley v. Valeo, the Supreme Court noted that there is still a risk of corruption when contributions are… Continue reading

Breaking and Analysis: Supreme Court on 6-3 Vote in AFP Case Severely Undermines Case for Constitutionality of Campaign Finance Disclosure Laws

July 1, 2021, 7:58 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

In a 6-3 opinion, the Supreme Court has stuck down on a facial challenge California’s law requiring disclosure of donor information to CA officials for law enforcement purposes. But the case has major implications for campaign finance disclosure rules.… Continue reading

If CJ Roberts Has the Opinion in Americans for Prosperity v. Bonta, Will He Pull the Same Switcheroo on Exacting Scrutiny as He Did in McCutcheon?

June 29, 2021, 10:43 amSupreme CourtRick Hasen

Some reading the tea leaves believe Chief Justice Roberts has the Court’s opinion in AFP v. Bonta, on donor disclosure. I’m interested in the case because the decision may affect the constitutionality of campaign finance disclosure laws, even though AFP… Continue reading

Thoughts on Today’s Oral Argument in the AFP v. Bonta Case in the U.S. Supreme Court: California Will Lose, But the Question is How It Will Lose and What the Case Will Mean for Campaign Finance Disclosure

April 26, 2021, 8:54 amcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

I just listened to the oral argument in this case (listen here). You can read my tweet thread. Here is my general takeway: California is likely to lose. It collected donor information for law enforcement purposes but allowed… Continue reading

“The Decade of Democracy’s Demise”

May 22, 2020, 7:52 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

James Sample has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, American U. L. Rev.). Here is the abstract: In the decade since Citizens United v. FEC, which, while consequential in its own right, is also not responsible for all the ills… Continue reading

“Unlimited Donations to Candidates, Coming Soon? Former Solicitor General Paul Clement may get the Supreme Court closer to killing what’s left of campaign-finance limits.”

July 26, 2019, 6:17 amcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

I have written this piece for The Atlantic. It begins: During the George W. Bush administration, then–Solicitor General Paul Clement successfully defended the constitutionality of the 2002 McCain-Feingold law, which tightened electioneering and fundraising regulations. Can Clement now get traction… Continue reading

JFC: FEC Deadlocks on Rules for Joint Fundraising Committees, Bringing Us Closer to Concerns of Huge Fundraising Raised by SCOTUS Dissenters in McCutcheon Case

June 3, 2019, 12:03 pmcampaign financeRick Hasen

Michael Beckel: https://twitter.com/mjbeckel/status/1135611484883628033

Plaintiffs’ Merits Brief in Maryland Redistricting Case

March 5, 2019, 7:01 amredistrictingDan Tokaji

From Plaintiffs-Appellees’ Brief filed in the Supreme Court yesterday: A State may not inhibit “the political participation of some in order to enhance the relative influence of others.” McCutcheon v. FEC, 572 U.S. 185, 191 (2014). Given this insuperable principle,… Continue reading

Merits Briefs in N.C. Gerrymandering Case

March 4, 2019, 12:00 pmredistrictingDan Tokaji

Plaintiffs-Appellees have filed their briefs in Rucho v. Common Cause/League of Women Voters. From the Common Cause plaintiffs’ brief: The 2016 North Carolina Congressional Plan (“2016 Plan” or “Plan”) is the most overt, and likely the… Continue reading

Supreme Court Will Consider Whether to Take Major Montana Campaign Contributions Case at Its January 4 Conference, A Case Which Could Pave the Way for Killing Federal Campaign Contribution Limits

November 30, 2018, 11:30 amcampaign finance, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

According to the docket. It could also be when the Court considers whether to take the Austin campaign finance case. As I wrote in Slate back in September: As Common Cause’s Steve Spaulding notes, “Kavanaugh himself acknowledges in the… Continue reading

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