Court: No campaign finance limits for small groups

Nov 9, 2010
By P. SOLOMON BANDA
Associated Press

DENVER (AP) -- A federal appellate court ruled Tuesday that requiring small groups who promote ballot initiatives to file campaign finance reports is so burdensome that it's unconstitutional, dealing the latest blow to open-government advocates.

A libertarian legal group, the Institute for Justice, believes the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling in a case over Colorado requirements for campaign reporting could help overturn similar laws in other states.

Steve Simpson, an attorney for the Arlington, Va.-based group, said it is the first ruling in the nation where reporting requirements for issues groups were deemed so burdensome that they violate the First Amendment. He said the latest decision splits from a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling last year that dealt with small amounts of money, but didn't examine the burden the reporting requirements placed on the First Amendment. the rest