Institute For Free Speech

Contribution Limits: Caps on First Amendment Activity
January 1, 2018  •  By IFS Staff  •    •  

Contribution limits are monetary restrictions on the amount an individual or group can donate to a political actor – usually a candidate, political party, or political action committee. The Supreme Court first allowed limits on contributions in Buckley v. Valeo. The Court’s ruling acknowledged that contribution limits were a restriction on First Amendment activity, but allowed them on the theory…

Do States with Fewer Campaign Finance Regulations Have More Corruption?
May 24, 2023   •  By Alec Greven   •  , , ,

New research finds that states ranking highly for free political expression are not highly ranked states for corruption. In fact, states that have the ...

LTE: We shouldn’t be limited in pooling our money in political speech
April 21, 2023   •  By David Keating   •  , ,

Your recent editorial (“Ways to combat dark money in Massachusetts politics,” Opinion, April 13) missed the mark in citing Attorney General Maura Healey for not advancing ...

Comments to the FEC Regarding Advisory Opinion Request 2022-12 (Ready for Ron)
August 30, 2022   •  By Gary Lawkowski   •  ,

RE: Advisory Opinion Request 2022-12 (Ready for Ron) Dear Commissioners: The Institute for Free Speech[1] submits this comment in support of Draft B in ...

The Free Speech Indices and You
August 17, 2022   •  By Luke Wachob   •  , , , ,

For the past several years, the Institute for Free Speech research team has been hard at work assessing and comparing how political speech is ...

Lopez v. Griswold
January 31, 2022   •  By Scott Blackburn   •  , ,

The nation’s most restrictive limit on donations to legislative candidates just landed in federal court. Two Colorado candidates and a citizen who wishes to ...

The First Amendment Applies to All – And You Can Take that to the Bank
January 19, 2022   •  By Nathan Maxwell   •  , ,

New Jersey, as opposed to the federal government, doesn’t ban corporate entities from making campaign contributions. Except, that is, if you’re a bank.

Virden v. City of Austin
November 26, 2021   •  By Scott Blackburn   •  ,

That the First Amendment secures a right to solicit contributions is firmly established. What use is the right to solicit contributions, if there is ...

New Jersey Bankers Association v. Attorney General of New Jersey
November 23, 2021   •  By IFS staff   •  , , ,

Industry-specific contribution bans such as New Jersey’s directly burden associational rights and are subject to exacting scrutiny, which requires narrow tailoring. The district court ...

How Ted Cruz’s Fight with the FEC Could Benefit Free Speech for Everyone
August 12, 2021   •  By Luke Wachob   •  , , , ,

Senator Ted Cruz’s recent victory over the Federal Election Commission in a loan-repayment case clarified important First Amendment principles. The Institute for Free Speech ...

Assumptions Gone Awry: New Book Casts Further Doubt on “Appearance of Corruption” Legal Standard
July 7, 2021   •  By Alec Greven   •  , , , , , ,

In an insightful new book, The Appearance of Corruption: Testing the Supreme Court’s Assumptions about Campaign Finance Reform, three political scientists examine the Court's ...

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