U.S. Appeals Court ruling in Emily’s List v. FEC a “victory for foes of campaign spending limits”

Regulations on spending limits for federal elections by nonprofits were thrown out last Friday by an appeals court.

In a 2-1 decision, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals issued the victory for Emily’s List, a nonprofit organization that backs female Democratic candidates who support abortion rights. The group challenged rules set by the Federal Election Commission in 2005, claiming limits on spending by nonprofits violated their First Amendment rights.

According to FEC rules, nonprofits are allowed to spend only “hard money” contributions. This caused issues with Emily’s List, as individuals are limited to donating $5,000 to nonprofit organizations who plan use the donations to support elected officials.

However, the First Amendment states private individuals are allowed to donate an unlimited amount of money to federal election campaigns.

Circuit judges Brett M. Kavanaugh and Karen LeCraft Henderson were in favor of Emily’s List. Kavanaugh wrote in his opinion of Emily’s List v. FEC he agreed the previous regulations violated the group’s First Amendment rights.

“The First Amendment, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, protects the right of individual citizens to spend unlimited amounts to express their views about policy issues of and candidates for public office,” Kavanaugh said in his opinion. “Similarly, the First Amendment, as the Court has construed it, safeguards the right of citizens to band together and pool their resources as an unincorporated group or non-profit organization in order to express their views about policy issues and candidates for public office. We agree with Emily’s List that the new FEC regulations contravene those principles and violate the First Amendment.”

Judge Janice Rogers Brown said in a statement against the ruling, “Federal courts should not decide constitutional questions unless it is necessary to do so.”

Legal scholar Richard Hansen wrote an opinion stating the appeals court’s decision, along with the possibility of the U.S. Supreme Court overruling Austin and McConnell in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission, could drastically change the face of politics by allowing corporations to make unlimited amounts of donations to political parties.

Democracy 21 issued a statement strongly disagreeing with the judges’ ruling.

“While we continue to think the FEC regulations are proper and valid, the fact is that the FEC’s failure to enforce existing campaign finance rules has resulted in campaign activities by outside 527 groups being mostly unconstrained,” the statement reads. “This decision means they will continue to function unconstrained.”

Check out Gavel Grab, Justice at Stake’s blog, for background information on the Emily’s List case.

Read The Washington Post article on the ruling. Meanwhile NPR asks, ”Is McCain-Feingold Now On The Ropes?”and declares the ruling a “victory for foes of campaign spending limits.”