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Articles 1 - 18 of 18
Full-Text Articles in Law
The New Front In The Clean Air Wars: Fossil-Fuel Influence Over State Attorneys General- And How It Might Be Checked, Eli Savit
Michigan Law Review
Review of Struggling for Air: Power and the "War On Coal" by Richard L. Revesz and Jack Leinke, and Federalism on Trial: State Attorneys General and National Policymaking in Contemporary America by Paul Nolette.
In All Fairness: Using Political Broadcast Access Doctrine To Tailor Public Campaign Fund Matching, Andrew V. Moshirnia, Aaron T. Dozeman
In All Fairness: Using Political Broadcast Access Doctrine To Tailor Public Campaign Fund Matching, Andrew V. Moshirnia, Aaron T. Dozeman
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Recent United States Supreme Court decisions have undermined the viability of campaign public financing systems, a vital tool for fighting political corruption. First, Citizens United v. FEC allowed privately financed candidates and independent groups to spend unlimited amounts of money on campaigning. Publicly financed candidates now risk being vastly outspent. Second, Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom PAC v. Bennett invalidated a proportional fund matching system whereby privately financed candidates’ or independent groups’ spending triggered funds to publicly funded candidates. These decisions effectuate a libertarian speech doctrine: all speakers, individual or corporate, must be absolutely unburdened. To comply with this approach, …
Paths Of Resistance To Our Imperial First Amendment, Bertrall L. Ross Ii
Paths Of Resistance To Our Imperial First Amendment, Bertrall L. Ross Ii
Michigan Law Review
In the campaign finance realm, we are in the age of the imperial First Amendment. Over the past nine years, litigants bringing First Amendment claims against campaign finance regulations have prevailed in every case in the Supreme Court. A conservative core of five justices has developed virtually categorical protections for campaign speech and has continued to expand those protections into domains that states once had the authority to regulate. As the First Amendment’s empire expands, other values give way. Four key cases from this era illustrate the reach of this imperial First Amendment. In Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. v. …
Fighting Foreign-Corporate Political Access: Applying Corporate Veil-Piercing Doctrine To Domestic-Subsidiary Contributions, Ryan Rott
Michigan Law Review
Campaign finance regulations limit speech. The laws preclude foreign nationals, including foreign corporations, from participating in U.S. politics via campaign contributions. The unusual characteristics of corporations, however, may allow foreign corporations to exploit a loophole in the regulatory regime. A foreign corporation may contribute to political campaigns by acquiring a domestic subsidiary and dominating it. This Note addresses how these unusual corporate behaviors enable foreign corporations to illegally corrupt the political process. This Note concludes that to close the loophole without violating the free speech rights of domestic subsidiaries, Congress should enact legislation which would apply corporate veil-piercing theory to …
Election Law's Lochnerian Turn, Ellen D. Katz
Election Law's Lochnerian Turn, Ellen D. Katz
Articles
This panel has been asked to consider whether "the Constitution [is] responsible for electoral dysfunction."' My answer is no. The electoral process undeniably falls well short of our aspirations, but it strikes me that we should look to the Supreme Court for an accounting before blaming the Constitution for the deeply unsatisfactory condition in which we find ourselves.
Defining Corruption And Constitutionalizing Democracy, Deborah Hellman
Defining Corruption And Constitutionalizing Democracy, Deborah Hellman
Michigan Law Review
The central front in the battle over campaign finance laws is the definition of corruption. The Supreme Court has allowed restrictions on the giving and spending of money in connection with elections only when they serve to avoid corruption or the appearance of corruption. The constitutionality of such laws, therefore, depends on how the Court defines corruption. Over the years, campaign finance cases have conceived of corruption in both broad and narrow terms, with the most recent cases defining it especially narrowly. While supporters and critics of campaign finance laws have argued for and against these different formulations, both sides …
Citizens United And The Illusion Of Coherence, Richard L. Hasen
Citizens United And The Illusion Of Coherence, Richard L. Hasen
Michigan Law Review
The self-congratulatory tone of the majority and concurring opinions in last term's controversial Supreme Court blockbuster, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, extended beyond the trumpeting of an absolutist vision of the First Amendment that allows corporations to spend unlimited sums independently to support or oppose candidates for office. The triumphalism extended to the majority's view that it had imposed coherence on the unwieldy body of campaign finance jurisprudence by excising an "outlier" 1990 opinion, Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, which had upheld such corporate limits, and parts of a 2003 opinion, McConnell v. FEC, extending Austin to unions …
A Tale Of Conflicting Sovereignties: The Case Against Tribal Sovereign Immunity And Federal Preemption Doctrines Preventing States' Enforcement Of Campaign Contribution Regulations On Indian Tribes, Paul Porter
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Note will discuss whether Indian tribes can assert tribal sovereign immunity to avoid compliance with state campaign finance regulation and whether such regulations should be preempted by federal law. Tribal sovereign immunity is not an enshrined constitutional imperative; it exists only under federal common law and can be limited by the courts from blocking state suits to enforce campaign finance regulations against tribes. This Note will also argue that state campaign finance regulations should not be preempted by federal law because states have a compelling interest in protecting their political processes from corruption that outweighs tribal interests in flouting …
Campaign Finance Reform And The Social Inequality Paradox, Yoav Dotan
Campaign Finance Reform And The Social Inequality Paradox, Yoav Dotan
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The recent landmark decision by the Supreme Court in McConnell v. FEC opens the way for new and more decisive regulation of the vast amounts of private and corporate money poured into the political system. However, the theoretical grounds for campaign finance regulation - as reflected in the Court's opinion - remain highly perplexing. The purpose of the current article is to tie together the evolving constitutional principle of equality in election with modern process theory and to apply them to the field of campaign finance. The inherent tension between the stringent requirement for political equality on the one hand …
Inside Campaign Finance: Myths And Realities, Michael R. Phillips
Inside Campaign Finance: Myths And Realities, Michael R. Phillips
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Inside Campaign Finance: Myths and Realities by Frank J. Sarauf
Safeguarding The Litigant's Constitutional Right To A Fair And Impartial Forum: A Due Process Approach To Improprieties Arising From Judicial Campaign Contributions From Lawyers, Mark Andrew Grannis
Safeguarding The Litigant's Constitutional Right To A Fair And Impartial Forum: A Due Process Approach To Improprieties Arising From Judicial Campaign Contributions From Lawyers, Mark Andrew Grannis
Michigan Law Review
This Note will argue that the improprieties arising from some campaign contributions are so egregious that they offend the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment. Consequently, states must either reform judicial campaigns to eliminate such improprieties, or, through mandatory judicial recusal or disqualification, respect the absolute constitutional right to an impartial forum. Part I of this Note will examine the history of disqualification at common law and in American practice, focusing on the extent to which it has been held to be a requirement of due process. Part II will argue that under the applicable due process standards, a …
Regulating Campaign Activity: The New Road To Contradiction?, Sanford Levinson
Regulating Campaign Activity: The New Road To Contradiction?, Sanford Levinson
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Politics and Money: The New Road to Corruption by Elizabeth Drew
Making Campaign Finance Law Enforceable: Closing The Independent Expenditure Loophole, John P. Relman
Making Campaign Finance Law Enforceable: Closing The Independent Expenditure Loophole, John P. Relman
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Note explores the problems posed by present attempts to define "coordination." Part I discusses generally the complexities of the coordination problem under Buckley, setting forth the rationale behind the Buckley rule and examining present efforts by Congress and the FEC to enforce the Buckley standards. Part I concludes by proposing a new definition for "coordination" designed to improve enforcement of the Buckley rule. Part II presents an alternative means for remedying the coordination problem. Rather than relying on a redefinition of coordination for proper enforcement of federal election law, this section proposes prophylactic legislation designed to regulate independent …
State And Local Limitations On Ballot Measure Contributions, Michigan Law Review
State And Local Limitations On Ballot Measure Contributions, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
This Note's thesis is that ballot measure limitations unconstitutionally infringe upon the rights of free speech and association. Part I analyzes Buckley and concludes that the CARC court misapplied its distinction between contributions and direct expenditures. Part II tests ballot measure limitations against Buckley's "exacting scrutiny" standard. It identifies the state interests asserted in defense of ballot measure limitations - lessening abuse by narrow interest groups, reducing apathy, and equalizing political expression - and concludes that ballot measure limitations do not permissibly further these governmental interests.
Regulation Of Campaign Funding And Spending For Federal Office, Roscoe L. Barrow
Regulation Of Campaign Funding And Spending For Federal Office, Roscoe L. Barrow
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This article will detail significant data on campaign funding and spending, describe the major laws for regulating campaign funding and spending, analyze the constitutional issues raised by these laws, and propose changes to render the laws safer from attack on grounds of unconstitutionality and more effective in achieving a viable election process.
Union Political Involvement And Reform Of Campaign Financing Regulation, George P. Macdonald
Union Political Involvement And Reform Of Campaign Financing Regulation, George P. Macdonald
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The spiraling costs of political campaigns 5 and the continuing significant role played by unions and corporations in the financing of those campaigns call for an examination of section 610's efficacy as a prohibitory statute. This article will focus on the use of labor union funds in the financial aspects of national politics. It will first discuss the loopholes in section 610: those loopholes created through narrow judicial interpretation of the statute and those resulting from its imprecise drafting. Particular emphasis will be placed upon an analysis of the sources of funds available to unions for political activities and the …
Corporations - Political Activities - Interpretation Of Statute Prohibiting Political Contributions By Corporation, George Kircos
Corporations - Political Activities - Interpretation Of Statute Prohibiting Political Contributions By Corporation, George Kircos
Michigan Law Review
Defendant corporation, organized to promote the recall of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, was charged with violating section 346.12 of the Wisconsin statutes, which prohibits corporations doing business in Wisconsin from paying or contributing any money, etc., to promote or defeat the candidacy of any person for nomination, appointment, or election to any political office. The trial court entered a forfeiture judgment against the defendant. On appeal, held, reversed. The statutory phrase "doing business" was intended to limit the scope of the prohibition to corporations organized for profit. Corporations, such as the defendant, organized solely for political purposes are not …
The Newberry Case, Ralph W. Aigler
The Newberry Case, Ralph W. Aigler
Articles
Senator Newberry of Michigan and sixteen others were convicted in the United States District Court on the charge that they "unlawfully and feloniously did conspire, combine, confederate, and agree together to commit the offense [in the Newberry indictment] on his part of wilfully violating the act of Congress approved June 25, 1910, as amended, by giving, contributing, expending, and using and by causing to be given, contributed, expended and used in procuring his nomination and election at said primary and general elections, a greater sum than the laws of Michigan permitted and above ten thousand dollars," etc. The Act of …