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Political Spending: Civic Engagement is Not a Threat to Democracy
January 1, 2018  •  By IFS Staff  •    •  

The First Amendment guarantees every American freedom of speech. That freedom includes the right to spend money on speech. Without money, a political group cannot buy ads, print fliers, organize protests, or hire staff. Short of shouting one’s opinions on a street corner, it takes money to spread a message. Recognizing this relationship, the Supreme Court has long prohibited the…

Significant Constitutional and Practical Issues with Oklahoma Senate Bill 579
April 4, 2017   •  By Matt Nese   •  , , ,

On behalf of the Center for Competitive Politics (the “Center”), I respectfully submit the following comments concerning constitutional and practical issues with portions of ...

Money doesn’t buy elections and elections aren’t rigged. Period.
March 28, 2017   •  By Alex Baiocco   •  , ,

Searching for “rigged election” in Google News turns up “about 288,000 results.” Add “Trump” to the search and you get “about 342,000” hits. Enough ...

Failure of Campaign Self-Funders Highlights Once Again that Money Doesn’t Buy Elections
March 20, 2017   •  By Joe Albanese   •  ,

Last week, the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) published a blog post about the dismal track record of self-funding candidates who run for elected ...

Trump’s America should force the left to embrace corporate speech
March 20, 2017   •  By Alex Baiocco   •  , , ,

This piece originally appeared in The Hill on March 19, 2017.   With confirmation hearings for President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch fast ...

Neil Gorsuch, and the Supreme Court’s Role on Money in Politics
March 19, 2017   •  By Brad Smith   •  , ,

Democrats in Congress have signaled their intention to make campaign finance a major theme of the Gorsuch hearings this week. No doubt with that ...

Still Overbroad and Still Dangerous: Arkansas H.B. 1005 Threatens Nonprofit Groups’ Speech
March 14, 2017   •  By Matt Nese   •  , , ,

As amended by the sponsor on March 14, 2017, House Bill 1005 now contains only two major provisions. The first regulates “coordinated communications,” and ...

Gallup Poll Shows Less Than 0.5% of Americans Think Campaign Finance “Reform” is Top Problem Facing the Country
March 6, 2017   •  By Joe Albanese   •  ,

Supporters of greater campaign finance regulation often claim that their issue is of paramount importance to voters. Their evidence is often biased polling. For ...

Democrats’ Bad-Faith Attacks on Neil Gorsuch and ‘Money in Politics’
March 3, 2017   •  By Luke Wachob   •  , ,

Supreme Court justices are supposed to interpret the Constitution faithfully, not make the law as they wish. Senate Democrats and President Trump’s Supreme Court ...

Constitutional and Practical Issues with Nebraska Legislative Bill 252
March 2, 2017   •  By Matt Nese   •  , , , ,

If Legislative Bill 252 becomes law as written, there is a high likelihood that the law will be found unconstitutional if challenged in court. ...

Demos Study Doesn’t Prove Donors Control Politics, But it Suggests Government Should
February 21, 2017   •  By Joe Albanese   •  , , ,

The progressive advocacy group Demos released a study examining the demographics of the “elite donor” class, arguing that its makeup unfairly shapes policy formation ...

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