Free and Fair Election Fund v. Missouri Ethics Commission

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's order permanently enjoining enforcement of a recently enacted provision of the Missouri Constitution, Missouri Constitution Article VIII, Section 23.3(12), which prohibits a political action committee from receiving contributions from other political action committees. The court held that the prohibition unconstitutionally infringed on a political action committee's First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and association. The court held that the amendment violated the First Amendment as applied to political action committees (PACs) that donate only to candidates and to PACs that both donate to candidates and make independent expenditures, and the state did not have a sufficiently important interest in preventing contributions to a PAC that makes only independent expenditures. View "Free and Fair Election Fund v. Missouri Ethics Commission" on Justia Law