On March 19, the U.S. Supreme Court received a cert petition in Ognibene v Parkes, 11-1153, a case involving New York city’s public funding program for candidates for city office. The Court has not yet assigned a case number. The lawsuit complains about these New York city campaign finance laws: (1) people and companies who do business with the city have lower contribution limits; (2) contributions from people who do business with the city do not count toward helping a candidate qualify for public funding; (3) corporate PACs are not allowed to make contributions.

The limits for an individual who does not do business with the city, for Mayoral candidates, are $4,950; but the limits on individuals who do business with the city are $400 for Mayoral candidates. The cert petition points out that labor unions and labor union officials enjoy the higher contribution limits and their contributions do count toward helping the candidate qualify for public funding. The 2nd circuit had upheld the New York city laws on January 12, 2012. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.