More Campaign Finance Cases May Be on Supreme Court Horizon

Via law.com, the National Law Journal spotlights campaign finance cases percolating up from the lower federal courts post-Citizens United:

1. Bluman v. FEC, in which a petition for cert awaits Supreme Court review, examines whether foreign nationals can be barred from making donations to local, state and federal campaigns. An op-ed in yesterday’s NY Times urges the Court to find that such a ban violates the First Amendment;

2. U.S. v. Danielczyk, now on appeal to the Fourth Circuit, looks at the constitutionality of the federal prohibition of direct corporate contributions to candidates, which the district court judge invlaidated;

3. Wagner v. FEC, filed in federal court in D.C., tackles a Federal Election Campaign Act provision making it illegal for individuals with government contracts to contribute to a candidate, political committee or political party in connection with an election for federal office. One of the plaintiffs in the case is Texas law professor Wendy Wagner, who is represented by the ACLU and GWU law professor and eminent public interest litigator Alan Morrison.

James Bopp, the lawyer considered the principal architect of the increasingly successful campaign to dismantle federal campaign finance restrictions, is the subject of a profile in The American Prospect.

JFB