On February 24, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Lovell, a Reagan appointee, enjoined two Montana campaign finance laws. The case is Lair v Murry, 6:12-cv-12. One law that was enjoined says, “Printed election material that includes information about another candidate’s voting record must include: (i) a reference to the particular vote or votes upon which the information is based; (ii) a disclosure of contrasting votes known to have been made by the candidate on the same issue if closely related in time; and (iii) a statement that to the best of the signer’s knowledge, the statements about the other candidate’s voting record are accurate and true.” The order says this law is too vague to be constitutional.
The other enjoined law says, (1) “It is unlawful for a person to misrepresent a candidate’s public voting record or any other maatter that is relevant to the issues of the campaign with knowledge that the assertion is false or with a reckless disregard of whether or not the assertion is false; (2) It is unlawful for a person to misrepresent to a candidate another candidate’s public voting record or any other matter that is relevant to the issues of the campaign with knowledge that the assertion is false or with a reckless disregard of whether or not the assertion is false.” The order says this law is also unconstitutionally vague.
The order refused to enjoin the amount of campaign contribution limits placed on individuals and political parties, and upheld the ban on corporate contributions to candidates. As to the ban on independent expenditures by corporations, the judge said that is moot now that the U.S. Supreme Court has stayed the decision of the Montana Supreme Court that upheld such independent expenditures. The lower state court had enjoined that law, so the ban is not now in effect.
