“Fourth Circuit Decides Two Important Campaign Finance Cases, Raising Issues that Could Get En Banc or Supreme Court Attention”
The Election Law Blog has this post indicating:
Today the Fourth Circuit decided two important campaign finance cases, both confusingly with the same name . . .
A 4th Circuit panel today in North Carolina Right to Life v. Leake unanimously upheld three challenged provisions of a North Carolina law establishing public financing for appellate judicial elections . . .
The second case, decided 2-1 is also named North Carolina Right to Life v. Leake. In this case, the majority first struck down North Carolina’s definition of political committee as inconsistent with WRTL II because it extended beyond express advocacy and the “functional equivalent of express advocacy.” It also held the the definition was so full of constitutional infirmities that the law could not be upheld facially and then attacked through as applied challenges (as occurred with BCRA). The court then held that North Carolina’s definition of political committees to include an “a major purpose test” (as opposed to a “the” major purpose test) unconstitutionally burdened the right of political association.