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Political Spending: Civic Engagement is Not a Threat to Democracy
January 1, 2018  •  By IFS Staff  •    •  

The First Amendment guarantees every American freedom of speech. That freedom includes the right to spend money on speech. Without money, a political group cannot buy ads, print fliers, organize protests, or hire staff. Short of shouting one’s opinions on a street corner, it takes money to spread a message. Recognizing this relationship, the Supreme Court has long prohibited the…

Five Lessons about Spending in the 2016 Campaign You Might Have Missed
April 19, 2017   •  By Scott Blackburn   •  , , , ,

The Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) recently released their final tally of spending in the 2016 election cycle. Here are 5 takeaways: Despite hyperbolic ...

Significant Constitutional and Practical Issues with Connecticut House Bill 5589
April 14, 2017   •  By Zac Morgan   •  , , ,

In particular, H.B. 5589 explicitly imposes a limit on contributions to organizations making only independent expenditures. This provision directly contravenes the universal guidance of ...

Constitutional and Practical Issues with Maryland House Bill 898
April 13, 2017   •  By Matt Nese   •  , , ,

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

Significant Constitutional and Practical Issues with Oklahoma Senate Bill 579
April 4, 2017   •  By Matt Nese   •  , , ,

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

Money doesn’t buy elections and elections aren’t rigged. Period.
March 28, 2017   •  By Alex Baiocco   •  , ,

Searching for “rigged election” in Google News turns up “about 288,000 results.” Add “Trump” to the search and you get “about 342,000” hits. Enough ...

Failure of Campaign Self-Funders Highlights Once Again that Money Doesn’t Buy Elections
March 20, 2017   •  By Joe Albanese   •  ,

Last week, the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) published a blog post about the dismal track record of self-funding candidates who run for elected ...

Trump’s America should force the left to embrace corporate speech
March 20, 2017   •  By Alex Baiocco   •  , , ,

This piece originally appeared in The Hill on March 19, 2017.   With confirmation hearings for President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch fast ...

Neil Gorsuch, and the Supreme Court’s Role on Money in Politics
March 19, 2017   •  By Brad Smith   •  , ,

Democrats in Congress have signaled their intention to make campaign finance a major theme of the Gorsuch hearings this week. No doubt with that ...

Still Overbroad and Still Dangerous: Arkansas H.B. 1005 Threatens Nonprofit Groups’ Speech
March 14, 2017   •  By Matt Nese   •  , , ,

As amended by the sponsor on March 14, 2017, House Bill 1005 now contains only two major provisions. The first regulates “coordinated communications,” and ...

Gallup Poll Shows Less Than 0.5% of Americans Think Campaign Finance “Reform” is Top Problem Facing the Country
March 6, 2017   •  By Joe Albanese   •  ,

Supporters of greater campaign finance regulation often claim that their issue is of paramount importance to voters. Their evidence is often biased polling. For ...

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