A federal judge has ruled that a ballot measure passed by Maine voters last November, which aimed to limit campaign financing, is unconstitutional.
The measure limits the amount of money that can be donated to political action committees, or PACs, to $5,000 in candidate elections. It does not apply to those committees if political parties run them. It also does not impact ballot measure campaigns.
The measure was put on hold after a lawsuit was filed by two PACs associated with Republican State Representative Laurel Libby, including Dinner Table Action, which Libby cofounded. The other PAC in the lawsuit was For Our Future, which was founded by Alex Titcomb, who is also named as a plaintiff.
The decision leaned heavily on the U,S, Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens
United ruling, which was the centerpiece of the plaintiffs argument. Citizens
United allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money to support or oppose political candidates.
“The question in this case is whether the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens
United forecloses a state’s ability to limit contributions to political groups making
independent expenditures,” wrote U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Frink Wolf in her decision filed Tuesday. “After Citizens United there is no valid governmental interest sufficient to justify imposing limits on fundraising by independent-expenditure organizations.”
It’s not known if the defendants in the case, including the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices and state Attorney General Aaron Frey, will appeal the ruling.
