The U.S. Supreme Court released four opinions on June 20, but it did not release its opinion in Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom Club PAC v Bennett, 10-238. The Court only has two more scheduled dates for the release of opinions before it goes on its summer break. Those dates are Thursday, June 23, and Monday, June 27. The Arizona case was argued in March. Traditionally, the Court releases opinions in all argued cases before going on summer recess.
Arizona Free Enterprise is about Arizona’s extra public funding for campaigns, for publicly-funded candidates who have well-funded opponents who aren’t using public funding. The case does not directly involve minor parties or independent candidates, but the decision will have important implications for the pending lawsuit against Connecticut’s public funding law, which discriminates harshly against independent candidates and the nominees of new parties.
We will all be watching with bated breath to see what the decision is and the impacts it will have on third parties.
“Harsh discrimination” against third parties is a trivial, irrelevant matter as long as corporate “persons” are allowed to relieve major party candidates of the financial burden of campaigning.
Or have I missed the first major spend made by a US corporate “person” to benefit a third party candidate?