U.S. District Court Issues Injunction Against City Restrictions on Groups that Comment on Candidates

On October 22, a U.S. District Court in Colorado issued an injunction against certain campaign finance laws in Longmont, Colorado. The case is Western Tradition Partnership v City of Longmont, 09-cv-2303. The city had interpreted its own law to require groups that comment on candidates for city office to report their expenditures. Also, such commentary had to include within the body of the message a statement of how much that particular ad or communication was costing. Finally, such groups had to inform the candidates about their commentary.

The Court said that the latter two requirements are unconstitutional, and said that the first one is a case of the city misunderstanding its own law. Here is the 16-page opinion.


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