Legal Center Files Again in Defense of Texas Campaign Finance Laws

Today, the Campaign Legal Center filed an amicus brief in a Texas Appeals Court to defend the constitutionality of Texas’s campaign finance laws in Texas Democratic Party, et al. v. King Street Patriots, et al. The case is an appeal of a Texas district court decision upholding these laws, as the Legal Center had urged in an earlier amicus brief.

The District Court saw right through the King Street Patriots’ unsubstantiated claims and we are confident that the Court of Appeals will come to the same conclusion and uphold the laws,” said Tara Malloy, Campaign Legal Center Senior Counsel.  “This case is part of a wave of litigation across the country attempting to overturn a host of state campaign finance laws in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.  But like in many of the other challenges, the plaintiffs here overreach and attempt to argue that Citizens United implicitly invalidated corporate contribution restrictions – an argument completely unsupported by the law.”

The Texas Democratic Party filed an action against the King Street Patriots, alleging that the non-profit 501(c)(4) corporation made in-kind contributions to the state Republican Party in violation of Texas’s restriction on corporate political contributions, and failed to register as a “political committee” and comply with state disclosure law.  The King Street Patriots, in response, filed a broad counterclaim challenging numerous provisions of Texas campaign finance law.

The District Court granted summary judgment to the Texas Democratic Party and dismissed the counterclaim, allowing the original Texas Democratic Party action to move forward on a separate track seeking damages and declaratory and injunctive relief in connection to the alleged violations of state campaign finance law.

The Campaign Legal Center also filed an amicus brief in the lower court on September 21, 2011.

To read the brief filed today, click here.

To read the summary judgment opinion of the district court, click here.