On June 28, the 4th circuit ruled in USA v Danielczyk that federal laws that prohibit contributions to federal candidates are still constitutional. Here is the 12-page decision. As is well known, in 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v FEC that corporations cannot be prevented from spending money to spread their own message about federal candidates and whether voters should support them or not.

The 4th circuit said there are substantial differences between independent spending and campaign contributions. “Direct contributions do not necessarily fund political speech”, the decision says. More importantly, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in the past has upheld laws that ban corporate contributions to federal candidates. The most recent such decision, FEC v Beaumont, was issued in 2003.

It is likely that the Danielczyk case will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The ballot access bill, HB 32, is almost certainly not going to be brought up in the North Carolina State Senate before the legislature adjourns in a few days. Reportedly, the President of the State Senate, Phil Berger (R-Eden), is blocking the bill.

On June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to maintain any stay, or delay, on implementing the 9th Circuit opinion in Gonzalez v Arizona. This means that, at least for remainder of the year, Arizona must accept voter registrations using the federal voter registration form, without the addition of any information not asked for on the federal form. Here is the Court’s order. Justice Alito would have maintained the temporary stay that has been in effect for the preceding week. Thanks to Justin Levitt for this news.