NC sued over matching funds for Supreme Court candidates
September 21, 2011
North Carolina: In its second attempt to invalidate North Carolina's system of matching funds for judicial candidates, the North Carolina Right to Life (NCRTL) Political Action Committee has sued the state Board of Elections and Attorney General Roy Cooper. This time the PAC is also joined by NCRTL Committee Fund for Independent Political Expenditures. NCRTL is arguing that the statute violates its political expression, since the group can no longer donate to the campaigns of Supreme Court candidates it supports without the state matching funds for the candidates it opposes.[1]
As aforementioned, this is the second time NCRTL has attempted to overturn this provision. In 2006, the challenge was dismissed in federal district court and the subsequent appeal went nowhere in the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. This lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.[1]
Though the previous attempt did not make its way to the Supreme Court of the United States, the group may be hoping that the high court's opinion on political contributions and freedom of speech has changed the climate for matching funds. The 2008 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission has altered the acceptability of donations, and has already led to invalidating Arizona's system of matching funds for candidates.[1]
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