Thalheimer v. City of San Diego

In December 2009, plaintiffs filed a constitutional challenge to several provisions of San Diego’s campaign finance laws, including contribution limits as they applied to independent expenditure-only groups, as well as the City’s prohibition on political contributions by “non-individual entities” (e.g., corporations, labor unions and other groups) to candidates, political parties and other PACs that contribute to candidates. In June 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld San Diego’s “non-individual entities” contribution prohibition as to corporations and other associations, but enjoined the prohibition as applied to political parties. The Ninth Circuit also affirmed the district court’s decision to enjoin the contribution limits as applied to independent expenditure groups.