The U.S. Supreme Court’s landscape-altering ruling in Citizens United v. FEC is already triggering aftershocks in some of the dozens of campaign finance-related lawsuits in federal and state courts.
In SpeechNow.org v. FEC, argued before a federal appellate court less than a week after the ruling, the potential impact of the decision dominated questioning in that challenge to limits on independent expenditure committees. In two separate, high-profile cases targeting the federal ban on soft money and a state campaign disclosure law, the courts have ordered supplemental briefing on Citizens United‘s relevance. And the Supreme Court this term is not yet finished in this area. The justices will hear arguments in April on an appeal involving Washington’s petition disclosure law.
