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Issue Advocacy: A Cornerstone of Democracy
January 1, 2018  •  By IFS Staff  •    •  

The First Amendment protects speech from burdensome government regulation. Until the 1970s, federal law largely did not regulate either campaign speech or issue speech by advocacy groups. That changed with the adoption of the Federal Election Campaign Act. The Act attempted to regulate any speech “relative to a clearly identified candidate.” This law, and the subsequent Supreme Court decision Buckley…

Recent Political Documentaries Have a Knee-Jerk Skepticism of Free Speech
June 2, 2017   •  By Joe Albanese   •  , , ,

I recently watched the new Netflix documentary Get Me Roger Stone, about the eponymous Republican political insider. The film traces Stone’s career from its ...

Constitutional and Practical Issues with Colorado House Bills 17-1261 and 17-1262
April 24, 2017   •  By Allen Dickerson   •  , , ,

On behalf of the Center for Competitive Politics (“the Center”), we respectfully submit the following comments on constitutional and practical issues with portions of ...

Colorado closes free speech case, changes law, pays $220K in attorney’s fees

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April 7, 2017   •  By IFS Staff   •  , ,

Alexandria, VA – Attorneys for Colorado and the Center for Competitive Politics (CCP) filed a notice in federal court today ending a free speech ...

Some Strangely Declare Modern Philanthropy a “Problem”
April 3, 2017   •  By Joe Albanese   •  ,

Last week, the “business” section of The Atlantic published an article about modern philanthropy in American society, touching upon a new book on the ...

Judge Neil Gorsuch Tackles Thorny Jurisdictional Questions in Important First Amendment Case
February 7, 2017   •  By David Keating   •  , ,

Hon. Neil Gorsuch United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (2006-Present) This post reviews a case in which Judge Neil Gorsuch wrote ...

More on Judge Thomas Hardiman’s Views on Free Speech
January 30, 2017   •  By David Keating   •  , ,

Hon. Thomas Hardiman United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (2007-Present); United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (2003-2007) ...

What would happen if the media talked about itself the way it talks about “dark money” groups?
November 1, 2016   •  By Luke Wachob   •  , ,

A shadowy organization based in Washington, D.C., recently spent an undisclosed sum attempting to swing elections in far-off places such as South Dakota and ...

Analysis of Multnomah Co. Measure Number 26-184 (“Fair Elections and Clean Governance Charter Amendment”)
September 16, 2016   •  By IFS Staff   •  , , ,

If enacted, the Amendment will define an independent expenditure as any effort “to influence the outcome of a Candidate election” that is neither made ...

The NRA’s Political Spending is No Different From Any Other Group’s
September 15, 2016   •  By Joe Albanese   •  , ,

Last week, the Sunlight Foundation – an organization that supports increased donor disclosure for nonprofit groups that occasionally speak about candidates and issues as ...

Warren and Whitehouse Deceive on Oil Industry Contributions
August 19, 2016   •  By Joe Albanese   •  , , ,

In their recent Washington Post op-ed, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) shower praise on the continuing efforts by Democratic attorneys general ...

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