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Will the courts uphold the new contribution bans?

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Illinois

* Dan Petrella has a long and quite good story about the new state law banning dark and out of state money from judicial campaigns…

While he isn’t aware of other states having attempted an outright ban on dark money contributions to judicial candidates, [Douglas Keith, counsel for the Brennan Center’s democracy program] said some recent court decisions have cast doubt on a state’s ability to limit campaign contributions from outside its borders.

For example, a federal appeals court earlier this year struck down a prohibition on candidates in Alaska accepting more than $3,000 in out-of-state contributions in a year.

But the U.S. Supreme Court appears to have left some room for states to treat those seeking a seat on the bench differently than candidates for other offices.

In 2015, the court upheld a Florida law prohibiting judges and judicial candidates from soliciting campaign contributions.

When dealing with campaign finance laws, the court generally weighs First Amendment rights against a state’s interest in combating corruption, Keith said.

As an example of that alleged corruption, the article points to the lawsuit charging State Farm with funneling money to Lloyd Karmeier’s Supreme Court bid ahead of the company’s appeal of a $1 billion judgment. It’s a good read.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Dec 9, 21 @ 11:25 am

Comments

Government for sale has nearly destroyed American democracy.

Comment by Dotnonymous Thursday, Dec 9, 21 @ 11:59 am
The existential truism from Don Ohlmeyer: “the answer to all your questions is money….” seems applicable here.

Comment by NoOneOfConsequence Friday, Dec 10, 21 @ 7:26 am

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