Legal Center Files in Defense of Texas Campaign Finance Laws
Today, the Campaign Legal Center filed an amicus brief in Texas Democratic Party, et al. v. King Street Patriots, et al. to defend the constitutionality of Texas’s campaign finance laws.
The Texas Democratic Party filed an action seeking damages and declaratory and injunctive relief in connection to several violations of state campaign finance laws allegedly committed by the King Street Patriots. The Texas Democratic Party alleges that the King Street Patriots, a 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. In response to the suit, the King Street Patriots filed a counterclaim challenging numerous provisions of Texas campaign finance law, including the state restriction on corporate contributions to candidates, officeholders and political committees, and the disclosure and organizational requirements applicable to political committees.
“This is just one case in an aggressive nationwide litigation offensive seeking to invalidate a broad swath of state campaign finance laws in the wake of Citizens United,” said Legal Center Counsel Tara Malloy. “But Citizen United simply does not support the radical result the King Street Patriots and other anti-reform litigants seek. The Supreme Court did not consider a corporate contribution restriction in Citizen United, and eight of the nine Justices actually strongly endorsed disclosure in that opinion. We hope the district court affirms the constitutionality of Texas’s law, as it should.”
The Legal Center was supported in the case by the law firm of Gray and Becker in Austin, Texas.
Both parties have filed cross-motions for summary judgment on the King Street Patriots’s counterclaim. The motions will be heard by the District Court of Travis County, Texas on November 8, 2011.
To read the Legal Center’s amicus brief opposing the King Street Patriots’s counterclaim, click here.