In December 2009, plaintiffs filed a constitutional challenge to several provisions of San Diego’s campaign finance laws. 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...

In April 2008, Human Life of Washington (HLW) challenged the constitutionality of several components of the State of Washington’s political committee disclosure regime, including the State’s definitions of “political committee,” “independent expenditure,” and “political advertising.” In October...

Pierce O’Donnell was indicted for contributing $26,000 of his money to the Edwards for President campaign through 13 individuals—primarily employees of his law firm—with the understanding that he would either advance them funds or reimburse them after the contribution was made. In June 2010, the U...

Ohio Right to Life (ORTL) filed suit to challenge multiple provisions of Ohio’s campaign finance law, including its “electioneering communications” corporate funding prohibition and related disclosure requirements. In September 2008, the district court rejected ORTL’s request to enjoin Ohio’s...

In November 2008, the RNC filed a challenge to the federal limits on coordinated spending between political parties and their candidates for federal office. In September 2010, the en banc Fifth Circuit rejected all of plaintiffs’ claims, and upheld the party coordinated spending limits...

In January 2005, EMILY’s List challenged multiple FEC regulations regarding use of federal “hard money” to pay for activities directed at both state and federal elections. In 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit struck down three challenged FEC regulations, holding that they...

In 2006, litigant Caperton filed a motion requesting that Justice Brent Benjamin of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia recuse himself from the appeal of the $50 million jury verdict in a contract dispute between two litigant mining companies. The U.S. Supreme Court held “that there is a...

A small utility district near Austin unsuccessfully challenged the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which required the Department of Justice or the United States District Court for D.C. to approve all voting changes in certain jurisdictions before those changes could go into...

In July 2006, the local chamber of commerce (COMPAC) challenged San Jose’s limits on contributions to political committees making only independent expenditures in municipal elections. The district court struck down the limits on September 20, 2006. On October 14, 2008, the Ninth Circuit vacated...

In June 2006, self-funded candidate Jack Davis filed suit in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia challenging the “Millionaire’s Amendment” of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (a.k.a. McCain-Feingold Law). The U.S. Supreme Court held that the Millionaire’s Amendment...

In July 2006, Representatives Shays and Meehan challenged regulations promulgated by the FEC in response to an earlier case litigated by the Congressmen (Shays I). In June 2008, the Court of Appeals issued a unanimous decision invalidating almost all sections challenged by plaintiffs in the FEC’s...

In September 2004, the WA State Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) filed an enforcement action against the 527 group Voter Education Committee (VEC) for the organization’s failure to register as a state political committee and comply with state disclosure requirements. VEC filed a counter-suit...

On October 2, 2014, Citizens for Responsible Government Advocates (CRG) filed suit to challenge Wisconsin state laws and regulations governing spending by outside groups coordinated with candidates. On November 6, 2014, the district court entered the parties’ stipulated preliminary injunction...

A county in Alabama successfully challenged the continued constitutionality of Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act, which contained a formula identifying those jurisdictions that had to comply with the “preclearance” requirements of Section 5—i.e., receive approval from the Department of Justice...

In July 2008, The Real Truth About Obama filed suit to enjoin four FEC regulations governing when independent groups must register as federal political committees and comply with the applicable federal restrictions and disclosure requirements...

In 2007, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, held that BCRA’s prohibition on corporate electioneering communications—defined as broadcast ads within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election that named a candidate and were targeted at the relevant voters—was unconstitutional as...

In 2006, the Christian Civic League challenged the constitutionality of BCRA’s electioneering communications provision as applied to advertisement CCL alleged it wished to broadcast naming a candidate during the period before the election.

In February 2005, ballot measure committee Citizens to Save California challenged a California Fair Political Practices Commission regulation establishing a presumption that all contributions to a candidate-controlled ballot measure committee are contributions to a candidate for elective state...

In April 2006, mayoral candidate Michael Nutter filed suit to enforce Philadelphia’s newly-enacted contribution limits in connection to several individuals who allegedly were exploring mayoral candidacies but not abiding by those limits. In December 2007, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania upheld...

In September 2004, Reps. Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Marty Meehan (D-MA) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the FEC’s failure to issue a rule regulating so-called 527 groups as “political committees” under federal campaign finance law. The court...