Thursday, April 30, 2015

Court upholds law on political campaign fundraising.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld limits on political campaign money fundraising.  The Court distinguished prior cases such as Citizens United on the basis that this law involved judicial candidate fundraising.  According to scotus.blog (see link):
"What clearly made the difference, in this break from a string of First Amendment rulings protecting big money in politics, was that this was about judicial elections and the majority was worried that asking directly for money by a would-be judge was a serious threat to judicial integrity.   By assigning the main opinion to himself, as the nation’s highest-ranking judge, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., gave the ruling something of the stature of a national judicial policy declaration.
At issue in the case of Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar was a state ethical rule that no candidate for a state judicial office may personally ask anyone for a campaign contribution — whether the person contacted was a lawyer, a friend, or even a family member.  That, the Chief Justice wrote, is sufficiently related to a state’s interest in impartial courts that it is permissible under the First Amendment."
  This makes sense to me although it is a limitation on First Amendment rights.  Remember, no right is absolute.

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