CCP President David Keating: “This is an important victory for free speech.”
Alexandria, VA – The Nevada Supreme Court today ruled that the state government could not force a group of citizens to register with the state before circulating mailings that criticized an officeholder. In a major victory for free speech, the Court held that Citizens Outreach, a non-profit advocacy group, was not subject to detailed government registration and reporting requirements in order to speak out about candidates and issues, blocking an effort by former Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller to fine the group.
“This is an important victory for free speech,” said CCP President David Keating.“The Secretary of State tried to use a law passed after the group spoke in order to fine and impose burdensome government filing requirements simply for exercising its First Amendment rights. The case should never have been brought by former Secretary of State Ross Miller.”
“We are grateful to the Nevada Supreme Court for remedying this miscarriage of justice,” said CCP Legal Director Allen Dickerson. “The decision to enforce an unclear law violated the First Amendment and fundamental principles of fairness. Today’s decision vindicates one group’s rights, but it also stands for the important principle that when citizens come together to speak, the State may regulate their activities only with care and specificity.”
The 5-2 ruling said that “Perhaps the 1997 Legislature intended express advocacy to include more communications than those that contain magic words, but this intent was not clear… when Citizen Outreach distributed its flyers. When it comes to the exercise of First Amendment rights, any ‘tie goes to the speaker, not the censor….’ [W]e conclude that basic principles of fundamental fairness require us to construe [the law in effect in 2009] narrowly, limiting it to only those communications that contain magic words of express advocacy.”
The victory is also significant as it comes at a time when proponents of more speech regulation have been arguing that there are virtually no limits on government dictated reporting requirements for political speakers. At a hearing today at the Federal Election Commission, before this decision was announced, CCP Chairman Bradley Smith reminded Commissioners that “it is not true, as some have suggested, that the Supreme Court has given its blessing” to any and all disclosure laws, and, “moreover, lower courts continue to strike down state disclosure laws” that are needlessly excessive. Today’s win in Nevada underscores that point.
At issue in the case was whether Citizen Outreach’s 2010 flyers, critical of a state assemblyman up for reelection, constituted “express advocacy.” The meaning of this term was crucial, because a finding that the nonprofit had engaged in express advocacy would trigger the filings to the government, including its list of donors, all of whom had no advance knowledge the group would distribute the flyers. Nevada’s high Court found that the definition of “express advocacy” under state law was unclear at the time that Citizen Outreach distributed its flyers.
Although CCP agrees with the outcome of the case, the court’s narrow decision still leaves unsettled the important question of what rules apply to citizens engaged in similar speech today.
A copy of the court’s ruling is available here.
