Toward recognition of a monetary threshold in campaign finance disclosure law

Virginia Law Review

Volumn 97, Issue 2, 2011, Pages 385-430

  Gantt, E Rebecca ^a  

^a Department of the Virginia Law ^*  (United States)

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EID: 79961233969     PISSN: 00426601     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (131)

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2. Lillian R. BeVier, Mandatory Disclosure, "Sham Issue Advocacy," and Buckley v. Valeo: A Response to Professor Hasen, 48 UCLA L. Rev. 285, 288 (2000)
3. Trevor Potter, Buckley v. Valeo, Political Disclosure and the First Amendment, 33 Akron L. Rev. 71, 103 (1999).
4. Ass'n of Am. Physicians & Surgeons v. Brewer, 363 F. Supp. 2d 1197, 1201 (D. Ariz. 2005)
5. Richard L. Hasen, The Surprisingly Complex Case for Disclosure of Contributions and Expenditures Funding Sham Issue Advocacy, 48 UCLA L. Rev. 265, 273-75 (2000)
6. Amy Constantine, Note, What's in a Name? McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission: An Examination of the Protection Afforded to Anonymous Political Speech, 29 Conn. L. Rev. 459, 473-77 (1996)
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9. City U. L. Rev. 665, 683-84 (2002). After recognizing differences between large and small donors (with the line drawn at $500)
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11. See Nixon v. Shrink Mo. Gov't PAC, 528 U.S. 377, 387-88 (2000) (addressing a challenge to contribution limits).
12. Gonzales v. Raich, 545 U.S. 1, 21 (2005)
13. McConnell v. FEC, 540 U.S. 93, 201 (2003) (internal quotation marks omitted).
14. McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Comm'n, 514 U.S. 334, 345 (1995).
15. Doe v. Reed, 130 S. Ct. 2811, 2817 (2010).
16. Citizens United v. FEC, 130 S. Ct. 876, 914 (2010)
17. Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 71 (1976)
18. Citizens United, 130 S. Ct. at 911
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24. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 67.
25. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 64 (emphasis added).
26. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 64 (internal quotation marks omitted).
27. Citizens for Responsible Gov't State PAC v. Davidson 236 F.3d 1174, 1198 (10th Cir. 2000)
28. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 65
29. Ky. Right to Life v. Terry, 108 F.3d 637, 647 (6th Cir. 1997)
30. Hays v. Wood, 603 P.2d 19, 22 (Cal. 1979)
31. Miriam Galston, Emerging Constitutional Paradigms and Justifications for Campaign Finance Regulation: The Case of 527 Groups, 95 Geo. L.J. 1181, 1209 (2007)
32. Curb Corruption in the Financing of Federal Campaigns, 42 U. Rich. L. Rev. 123,136 (2007)
33. Malcolm A. Heinicke, Note, A Political Reformer's Guide to McIntyre and Source Disclosure Laws for Political Advertising, 8 Stan. L. & Pol'y Rev. 133, 136 (1997)
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35. Buckley v. Am. Constitutional Law Found., Inc., 525 U.S. 182, 214 (1999) (Thomas, J., concurring)
36. Cal. Pro-Life Council, Inc. v. Getman, 328 F.3d 1088, 1101 n.16 (9th Cir. 2003)
37. Griset v. Fair Political Practices Comm'n, 884 P.2d 116, 122 (Cal. 1994)
38. Richard E. Levy, Defining Express Advocacy for Purposes of Campaign Finance Reporting and Disclosure Laws, 8 Kan. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 90, 93 (1999)
39. Daniel R. Ortiz, The Difference Two Justices Make: FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. II and the Destabilization of Campaign Finance Regulation, 1 Alb. Gov't L. Rev. 141, 165-66 (2008)
40. Trevor Potter, Buckley v. Valeo, Political Disclosure and the First Amendment, 33 Akron L. Rev. 71, 73-74 (1999)
41. P.J. Puryear, Life After NCRL v. Leake: Can North Carolina's Disclosure Laws Survive a Constitutional Challenge?, 87 N.C. L. Rev. 1252, 1259-60 (2009)
42. See, e.g., Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244, 270 (2003).
43. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 68-72, 82-84.
44. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 83 (emphasis added).
45. Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 413 U.S. 601, 615 (1973).
46. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 82.
47. McConnell, 540 U.S. at 196.
48. Alaska Right to Life Comm. v. Miles, 441 F.3d 773, 787 (9th Cir. 2006).
49. Fact: An Empirical Analysis of Strict Scrutiny in the Federal Courts, 59 Vand. L. Rev. 793, 847-49 (2006).
50. McConnell, 540 U.S. at 196-97 (citation omitted).
51. Citizens United, 130 S. Ct. at 915.
52. For example, the DISCLOSE Act, H.R. 5175, 111th Cong. (2010)
53. Finance Bill, an Obama Priority, N.Y. Times, Sept. 24, 2010, at A17.
54. Talley, 362 U.S. at 69 (Clark, J., dissenting).
55. Seth F. Kreimer, Sunlight, Secrets, and Scarlet Letters: The Tension Between Privacy and Disclosure in Constitutional Law, 140 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1, 83 (1991)
56. Talley, 362 U.S. at 64
57. ACLU of Nev. v. Heller, 378 F.3d 979, 987-88 (9th Cir. 2004)
58. Cal. Pro- Life Council v. Getman, 328 F.3d 1088, 1104 n.20 (9th Cir. 2003)
59. Lyrissa Barnett Lidsky & Thomas Cotter, Authorship, Audiences, and Anonymous Speech, 82 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1537, 1544 (2007)
60. McIntyre, 514 U.S. at 347.
61. McIntyre, 514 U.S. at 347-48.
62. generally William McGeveran, Mrs. McIntyre's Checkbook: Privacy Costs of Political Contribution Disclosure, 6 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 1 (2003).
63. Doe v. Reed, 130 S. Ct. 2811, 2822 (2010) (Alito, J., concurring)
64. McIntyre, 514 U.S. at 385 (Scalia, J., dissenting).
65. Citizens United, 130 S. Ct. at 915;
66. McConnell, 540 U.S. at 191-92.
67. McIntyre, 514 U.S. at 347.
68. McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission: An Examination of the Protection Afforded to Anonymous Political Speech, 29 Conn. L. Rev. 459, 473 (1996)
69. Nixon v. Shrink Mo. Gov't PAC, 528 U.S. 377, 398 (2000) (Stevens, J., concurring);
70. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 262-64 (White, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).
71. See, e.g., Citizens United, 130 S. Ct. at 913 (applying strict scrutiny).
72. See, e.g., Wilson v. Stocker, 819 F.2d 943, 950 (10th Cir. 1987)
73. Ohio Right to Life Soc'y v. Ohio Elections Comm'n, No. 2:08-CV-00492, 2008 WL 4186312, at *8 (S.D. Ohio Sept. 5, 2008)
74. Alaska Right to Life Comm. v. Miles, 441 F.3d 773, 778 (9th Cir. 2006)
75. Griset v. Fair Political Practices Comm'n, 884 P.2d 116, 122-23 (Cal. 1994)
76. Getman, 328 F.3d at 1101-02 n.16.
77. McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Comm'n, 514 U.S. 334, 338 n.3 (1995).
78. Heller, 378 F.3d at 987
79. Majors v. Abell, 361 F.3d 349, 355 (7th Cir. 2004)
80. Alaska Right to Life Comm. v. Miles, 441 F.3d 773, 792-94 (9th Cir. 2006).
81. Cal. Pro-Life Council v. Randolph, 507 F.3d 1172, 1174 (9th Cir. 2007).
82. Canyon Ferry Rd. Baptist Church v. Unsworth, 556 F.3d 1021, 1023, 1031 (9th Cir. 2009)
83. Rosen v. Port of Portland, 641 F.2d 1243, 1244-45, 1251 (9th Cir. 1981)
84. Buckley v. Am. Constitutional Law Found., 525 U.S. 182, 198-99 (1999)
85. John R. Lott, Jr. & Bradley Smith, Donor Disclosure Has Its Downsides, Wall St. J., Dec. 26, 2008, at A13.
86. McConnell v. FEC, 251 F. Supp. 2d 176, 227-29 (D.D.C. 2003).
87. Dick M. Carpenter II, Disclosure Costs: Unintended Consequences of Campaign Finance Reform 7 (2007), available at http://www.campaignfreedom.org/ doclib/20091007-Carpenter2007DisclosureCosts.pdf.
88. see also James Bopp, Jr. & Josiah Neeley, How Not to Reform Judicial Elections: Davis, White, and the Future of Judicial Campaign Financing, 86 Denv. U. L. Rev. 195, 218-20 & nn.159-75 (2008).
89. Disclosures About Disclosure, 44 Ind. L. Rev. 255, 271-80 (2010)
90. Brown v. Socialist Workers '74 Campaign Comm., 459 U.S. 87, 101-02 (1982)
91. Transcript of Oral Argument at 51, Citizens United v. FEC, 130 S. Ct. 876 (2010) (No. 08-205), 2009 WL 760811.
92. Brown, 459 U.S. at 101-02
93. See NCAAP v. Alabama, 357 U.S. 449 (1958).
94. Citizens United, 130 S. Ct. at 916. It has failed to recognize, however, the costs that accompany these benefits.
95. McIntyre, 514 U.S. at 355.
96. Cass R. Sunstein, Pornography and the First Amendment, 1986 Duke L.J. 589, 602-04 (1986)
97. McIntyre, 514 U.S. at 355.
98. Cal. Bankers Ass'n v. Shultz, 416 U.S. 21, 78-79 (1974) (Powell, J., concurring).
99. Brown, 459 U.S. at 97 (footnote omitted).
100. Ken Dilanian, Report Says Obama's Small-Donor Base Claim Is Off, USA Today, Nov. 25, 2008, available at http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2008- 11-24-obamadonors-N.htm.
101. Cf. Raleigh Hannah Levine, The (Un)Informed Electorate: Insights into the Supreme Court's Electoral Speech Cases, 54
102. Case W. Res. L. Rev. 225, 257-58 (2003)
103. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 55.
104. McIntyre, 514 U.S. at 337 & n.2.
105. Cent. Hudson Gas & Elec. Corp. v. Pub. Serv. Comm'n of N.Y., 447 U.S. 557, 564 n.6 (1980)
106. quoting Bates v. State Bar of Ariz., 433 U.S. 350, 381 (1977)
107. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 237 (Burger, C.J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).
108. See, e.g., Citizens United, 130 S. Ct. at 914 (2010).
109. Baptist Church v. Unsworth, 556 F.3d 1021, 1034 (9th Cir. 2009)
110. ProtectMarriage.com v. Bowen, 599 F. Supp. 2d 1197, 1221 n.10 (E.D. Cal. 2009)
111. Gonzales v. Raich, 545 U.S. 1, 21 (2005).
112. ProtectMarriage.com, 599 F. Supp. 2d at 1221 n.10.
113. Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 239-40 (Burger, C.J., concurring in part and dissenting in part)
114. Mont. Right to Life Ass'n v. Eddleman, 343 F.3d 1085, 1092-96 (9th Cir. 2003)
115. Daggett v. Comm'n on Governmental Ethics & Election Practices, 205 F.3d 445, 455-65 (1st Cir. 2000).
116. Mont. Right to Life Ass'n, 343 F.3d at 1092 (emphasis added).
117. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 82-84.
118. See, e.g., Nat'l Org. for Marriage v. McKee, 666 F. Supp. 2d 193, 212-13 (D. Me. 2009)
119. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 236-40 (Burger, C.J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).
120. Daggett v. Comm'n on Governmental Ethics & Election Practices, 205 F.3d 445, 466 (1st Cir. 2000).
121. Canyon Ferry Rd. Baptist Church v. Unsworth, 556 F.3d 1021, 1034 (9th Cir. 2009).
122. Alexander Meiklejohn, Free Speech and Its Relation to Self- Government 37 (1948)
123. Vincent Blasi, Learned Hand and the Self-Government Theory of the First Amendment: Masses Publishing Co. v. Patten, 61 U. Colo. L. Rev. 1, 12-16 (1990)
124. also James Weinstein, Campaign Finance Reform and the First Amendment: An Introduction, 34 Ariz. St. L.J. 1057, 1075 (2002)
125. Mills v. Alabama, 384 U.S. 214, 218 (1966).
126. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 14-15.
127. Thomas H. Dupree, Jr., Comment, Exposing the Stealth Candidate: Disclosure Statutes After McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, 63 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1211, 1231-32 (1996).
128. See, e.g., Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Ass'n, 436 U.S. 447, 457 (1978)
129. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 67-68.
130. FEC Contribution Limits for 2009-10, http://www.fec.gov/info/ contriblimits0910.pdf.
131. Michael Luo & Stephanie Strom, Donor Names Remain Secret as Rules Shift, N.Y. Times, Sept. 21, 2010, at A1.