On October 24, the Arizona State Court of Appeals issued this explanation for last week’s order, which kept the old lower Arizona campaign contribution limits in effect. The 2013 legislature had passed a bill greatly increasing the amount of money an individual may donate to a candidate for state office. Those new limits are now enjoined. The State Court of Appeals decision says that the bill is probably unconstitutional because the Arizona Constitution says that bills that affect the state’s public financing system can only be passed by a three-fourths vote of each house of the Legislature. The legislature had argued that the contribution limits are not intrinsically part of the public funding program, but the court disagreed.

The court did not give any guidance on how to handle the problem that some 2014 candidates have already received campaign donations in excess of the old limits. The case is Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission v Brain, 1 ca-SA-13-0239. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.