Court: No campaign finance limits for small groups

[The Northerner]

DENVER – A federal appellate court ruled on Tuesday that requiring small groups who promote ballot initiatives to file campaign finance reports is so burdensome that it's unconstitutional, dealing the latest blow to open-government advocates.

A libertarian legal group, the Institute for Justice, believes the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling in a case over Colorado requirements for campaign reporting could help overturn similar laws in other states.

Steve Simpson, an attorney for the Arlington, Va.-based group, said it is the first ruling in the nation where reporting requirements for issues groups were deemed so burdensome that they violate the First Amendment. He said the latest decision splits from a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling last year that dealt with small amounts of money, but didn't examine the burden the reporting requirements placed on the First Amendment.

The Colorado case could set up the issue to go before the U.S. Supreme Court, which earlier this year lifted prohibitions against corporations and unions from airing candidate ads. The state case affects groups campaigning for or against ballot measures.

At issue in the state case is a voter-approved amendment that requires groups of two or more people who spend more than $200 to report their spending. The appellate court ruled that the government cannot justify imposing campaign limits on such small groups, saying the burden outweighs the government's interest in ensuring fair elections.

The judges cited the amendment's preamble that the reporting requirement is meant to limit large campaign contributions that unfairly influence elections.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101110/ap_on_re_us/us_campaign_finance_colorado

[The Wielding Truth]

1. Yea, argue on the side of no accountability. Just what we need.

:sarcasm: