1st Amendment Violation Political Contribution Limits.

Byline: Derek Hawkins

United States Supreme Court

Case Name: David Thompson, et al. v. Heather Hebdon, et al.

Case No.: 19-122

Focus: 1st Amendment Violation Political Contribution Limits

Alaska law limits the amount an individual can contribute to a candidate for political office, or to an election oriented group other than a political party, to $500 per year. Alaska Stat. 15.13.070(b)(1) (2018). Petitioners Aaron Downing and Jim Crawford are Alaska residents. In 2015, they contributed the maximum amounts permitted under Alaska law to candidates or groups of their choice, but wanted to contribute more. They sued members of the Alaska Public Offices Commission, contending that Alaska's individual-to-candidate and individual-to-group contribution limits violate the First Amendment.

The Ninth Circuit declined to apply our precedent in Randall v. Sorrell, 548 U. S. 230 (2006), the last time we considered a non-aggregate contribution limit. See 909 F. 3d, at 1037, n. 5. In Randall, we invalidated a Vermont law that limited individual contributions on a per-election basis to: $400 to a candidate for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or other statewide office; $300 to a candidate for state senator; and $200 to a candidate for state representative. JUSTICE BREYER's opinion for the plurality observed that "contribution limits that are too low can . . . harm the electoral process by preventing challengers from mounting effective campaigns against incumbent officeholders, thereby reducing democratic accountability." 548 U. S., at 248249; see also id., at 264265 (Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment) (agreeing that Vermont's contribution limits violated the First Amendment); id., at 265273 (THOMAS, J., joined by Scalia, J., concurring in judgment) (agreeing that Vermont's contribution limits violated the First Amendment while arguing that such limits should be subject to strict scrutiny). A contribution limit that is too low can therefore "prove an obstacle to the very electoral fairness it seeks to promote." Id., at 249 (plurality opinion).*

In Randall, we identified several "danger signs" about Vermont's law that warranted closer review. Ibid. Alaska's limit on campaign contributions shares some of those characteristics. First, Alaska's $500...