The U.S. Supreme Court ruling McCutcheon v Federal Election Commission, issued April 2, 2014, has language that could potentially be cited by plaintiffs in constitutional ballot access lawsuits. The opinion says, “There is no right more basic in our democracy than the right to participate in electing our political leaders. Citizens can exercise that right in a variety of ways: They can run for office themselves, vote, urge others to vote for a particular candidate, volunteer to work on a campaign, and contribute to a candidate’s campaign.”

Here is a blog post by election law expert Bob Bauer, from his blog MoreSoftMoneyHardLaw.com, which talks about the implications of that paragraph. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to hear Free Speech v Federal Election Commission, 13-772, on May 15. This Wyoming case was filed by three individuals who wanted to pool their money to run some ads commenting on various candidates and issues, but who do not want to form a PAC, because the paperwork requirements are so daunting. The individuals are willing to make full disclosure of their spending.

Free Speech filed its cert petition on December 30, 2013. The case has taken longer than usual to get a conference date because the FEC twice asked for an extension of time in which to file its response.

On April 24, the chair of the South Carolina Republican Party held a news conference to say that the party has demanded that independent gubernatorial candidate Tom Ervin stop referring to himself as an “independent Republican” in his campaign ads. See this story.

South Carolina does not have registration by party, so whether or not any individual is a party member depends entirely on how that individual defines himself or herself. Ervin has already responded to the threat by saying he will not comply with the party’s demand.

There were many independent candidates on the November 2012 ballot who referred to themselves as Republicans or Democrats. That was because, due to a confusing campaign finance law, many legislative candidates from the two major parties were removed from the primary ballots of their own parties and had to run as independent candidates.