[EL] Federal court in Alabama strikes down portion of ban on transfers between PACs

[Edward Still]

*Press Release***

**December 14, 2011

Contact: Edward Still

205-320-2882 or 205-335-9652

A judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama has
that Alabama’s ban to transfers between PACs is unconstitutional in one
narrow circumstance. (Under the Alabama law, the definition of PAC includes
political parties and candidates’ principal campaign committees.)

On December 14, the court ruled for the Alabama Democratic Conference (ADC)
and several of its leaders, holding the law is invalid if the ADC is
gathering funds that will be used for independent expenditures – that is,
contributions that will not go to candidates’ committees. The court ruled,

Given that preventing corruption or the appearance of corruption cannot be
a valid interest if contributions are being made for purposes of
independent expenditures, it is clear that the State’s interest in stopping
corruption, or the appearance thereof, cannot support a ban on PAC-to-PAC
transfers if the money does not ultimately get funneled to a candidate.
Because the State cannot establish that it has a sufficient interest in
infringing upon the ADC’s First Amendment rights, this court must find
that, as a matter of law, the PAC-to-PAC transfer ban is unconstitutional
as applied to Plaintiffs. (Opinion, at 21.)

The court’s opinion is available at
http://www.scribd.com/doc/75711998/24-Order-Granting-Pl-Mot-for-SJ. The
final judgment is at http://www.scribd.com/doc/75712007/25-Final-Judgment.

The court’s final judgment ruled that ADC may receive funds from other PACs
if it keeps its funds in two separate bank accounts – one for the
independent-expenditure contributions; the other for money it will give to
candidates.

The ADC was represented by Edward Still (Birmingham), John K. Tanner
(Washington DC), and Osaygefo Grubbs (Montgomery).




Edward Still
Edward Still Law Firm LLC
130 Wildwood Parkway, Suite 108, PMB 304
Birmingham AL 35209
205-320-2882 (voice & fax)
  www.votelaw.com/blog
  www.edwardstill.com
  www.linkedin.com/in/edwardstill <http://www.linkedin.com/in/edwardstill>
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