A rare piece of good news by Rick Hasen in The New Republic:
The Roberts Court seems to have retreated from the suggestion that all campaign finance laws, aside from disclosure, are in constitutional trouble. Citizens United was a case dealing with independent campaign spending, and in its decision the Court was careful to say it was not messing with the other major type of campaign finance law: contribution limits. Controlling the amount of money going to candidates and raised by candidates is a key anticorruption tool. Yet there was language in Citizens United suggesting that even contribution limit laws could be subject to strict scrutiny, meaning they might likely be struck down as violating the First Amendment speech rights of candidates or contributors.
In today’s Arizona opinion, however, the Court confirmed that Citizens United did not overturn the law related to contribution limits, finding these restrictions “less onerous” and to be upheld under a “lower level of scrutiny.” That’s important, because opponents of campaign finance laws such as conservative attorney Jim Bopp have been going around citing Citizens United in their attempts to get contribution limits struck down left and right.
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