Civil and Human Rights

Court Bop(p)s Campaign Finance Ploy

Earlier today, the Supreme Court made short work of an attempt by conservative activists to throw the nation’s system of campaign finance regulation into further disarray on the eve of the 2012 election.

As Rick Hasen reported, anti-campaign finance crusader Jim Bopp had attempted to seize another opportunity to try to push the boundaries of Citizens United v. FEC just 13 days before the election.  Unlike Citizens United, which dealt with limits on independent political expenditures, Bopp’s new case, Lair v. Bullock, involved limits on direct contributions to candidates, which the Supreme Court has thus far upheld, even after Citizens United.   Representing a coalition of conservative groups with interests in Montana’s elections, Bopp requested that the U.S. Supreme Court intervene and lift a stay issued by the Ninth Circuit of a district court injunction that would have completely lifted the state’s caps on campaign contributions.  

The Supreme Court, fortunately, did not disturb the Ninth Circuit’s decision to issue the stay and prevent an eleventh-hour shake-up of Montana’s campaign finance landscape. In an opinion by prominent conservative Judge Jay Bybee (of Bybee Memo fame,) the Ninth Circuit wrote, “In light of Montana’s interest in regulating campaign contributions, the lack of evidence that other parties will be substantially injured, and the public’s substantial interest in the stability of its electoral system in the final weeks leading to an election, we will stay the order pending the state’s appeal.”

And indeed, even the most cynical observers would have had to balk at the Wild West of election spending that could have ensued if the Supreme Court had entertained Bopp’s request with just 13 days to go. Earlier this fall, more than half a million dollars in campaign contributions squeaked into the state during the short, six-day gap between the district court’s decision and the Ninth Circuit’s stay. (Ironically, the conservative group that took the lead in the case appears to have obtained its tax-exempt status by stating that it would not be attempting to sway elections, according to ProPublica.)

The Ninth Circuit will now have to consider the merits of Bopp’s appeal itself. If the most recent shenanigans in Montana are any indication, it should be an important case to watch—fortunately, after this election cycle.

For more on the constitutional case against Citizens United and corporate personhood, see Constitutional Accountability Center’s Constitution at a Crossroads and A Capitalist Joker: Corporations, Corporate Personhood, and the Constitution.

 

 

Photo credit: flickr/gageskidmore

More from Civil and Human Rights

Civil and Human Rights
U.S. Supreme Court

Stanley v. City of Sanford

In Stanley v. City of Sanford, the Supreme Court is considering whether the Americans with Disabilities Act protects against disability discrimination with respect to retirement benefits distributed after employment. 
Civil and Human Rights
U.S. Supreme Court

United States v. Skrmetti

In United States v. Skrmetti, the Supreme Court is considering whether Tennessee’s ban on providing gender-affirming medical care to transgender adolescents violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Civil and Human Rights
July 31, 2024

Supreme Court Allows Cities to Punish Homelessness

The Regulatory Review
At the end of its 2023-24 term, the U.S. Supreme Court issued several divided decisions...
By: Brian R. Frazelle
Civil and Human Rights
June 28, 2024

RELEASE: Ignoring constitutional history and original meaning, conservative majority allows city governments to punish people for sleeping in public even if they have nowhere else to go

WASHINGTON, DC – Following today’s decision at the Supreme Court in City of Grants Pass...
By: Brian R. Frazelle
Civil and Human Rights
June 20, 2024

RELEASE: Supreme Court decision keeps the door open to accountability for police officers who make false charges

WASHINGTON, DC – Following this morning’s decision at the Supreme Court in Chiaverini v. City...
By: Brian R. Frazelle
Civil and Human Rights
June 11, 2024

The People Who Dismantled Affirmative Action Have a New Strategy to Crush Racial Justice

Slate
Last summer, in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College, the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority struck...
By: David H. Gans