FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
April 20, 2005
Contact: Reid Cox or Marshall Manson
703.535.5836
CFIF Asks Federal Appeals Court to Strike Down Louisiana Campaign
Finance Law
'The First Amendment is not a loophole that politicians can avoid
at election time'
Alexandria, VA The Center for Individual Freedom
filed a brief Monday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit,
urging the court to strike down a Louisiana campaign finance law that
regulates independent political speech. The brief argues that
the law violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and
the Louisiana Constitution because it prevents citizens from freely
speaking about their elected representatives when it matters most
— at election time.
The regulations
silenced CFIF during Louisiana’s last elections when the organization
planned to run issue advertisements on justice issues that were
of particular public importance because of a then-upcoming primary
election for a seat on the state Supreme Court. The advertisements
never aired because Louisiana law — and subjective enforcement
of that law — may have triggered massive fines and intrusive
reporting requirements.
“Louisiana’s
campaign finance law is unconstitutional when it comes to issue
advocacy,” said Reid Cox, CFIF’s General Counsel.
“The First Amendment is not a loophole that politicians can
avoid at election time. Free speech ensures Louisianans —
and all Americans — always retain the right to both criticize
and congratulate our government, even when our elected representatives
don’t want to hear it.
“Groups
of citizens shouldn’t have to call their lawyers just because
they want to speak in the weeks leading up to an election,”
Cox continued. “Political speech is at the core of what
the First Amendment protects. If the First Amendment means
anything at all, it means our laws should encourage debate about
our elected leaders, not ban discussion about the issues and their
records.”
Specifically,
CFIF’s brief argues that Louisiana’s campaign finance
law is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad, violating the free
speech rights of both speakers and listeners. The fact that
“Louisiana has known” about the constitutional problems
with the law “for decades,” makes these violations even
more egregious, the brief notes.
In rulings spanning
30 years from Buckley v. Valeo to McConnell v. FEC,
the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently ruled that only the narrowest
and clearest restrictions on expenditures for speech survive First
Amendment scrutiny. Louisiana’s law fails that test.
So long as Louisiana’s law remains in place, CFIF “and
other speakers will have to self-censor, hedge, trim, and steer
clear, suffering irreparable injury to their own First Amendment
rights and inflicting such injury on their audiences,” the
brief concludes.
CFIF filed the
challenge last fall in order to speak to Louisianans, but a federal
district judge refused to strike down Louisiana’s regulations.
CFIF appealed that decision to the 5th Circuit.
The Center
for Individual Freedom (www.cfif.org) is a non-partisan, non-profit constitutional
advocacy group dedicated to protecting and defending individual
freedoms and rights in the legal, legislative and educational arenas.
CFIF has been a consistent opponent of campaign finance regulations
and free speech restrictions.
|