[EL] Let’s Put Citizens United to the Test: Pakistani Agent $ in U.S. Elections

[Craig Holman]

 Colleagues:

A minor technical correction to a previous post -- FARA does not ban foreign campaign contributions, It is only a disclosure law. Other federal statutes ban foreign contributions.  


The Foreign Agents RegistrationAct was the first attempt at major lobbying reform at the federal level. FARA’s primarypurpose was to limit the influence of foreign agents and propaganda on American publicpolicy. The law arose specifically in response to a perceived propaganda drive by Adolf Hitlerto fan the Nazi movement in the United States. Though there was no explicit evidence,President Franklin Roosevelt and many members of Congress believed that Hitler was helping financethe Nazi movement.
 
FARA requires every agentrepresenting a foreign principal to register with the Department of Justice and file disclosure formsoutlining the purpose of representation, income and expenditures by the agent onbehalf of the foreign principal. FARA requires only registration of foreign agents and disclosure oftheir activities, including disclosure of any lobbying expenditures or contributions made by the foreign principal. It does not attempt to restrict the behavior or lobbying activities of foreignagents, but other statutes do.


 

Craig Holman, Ph.D.
Government Affairs Lobbyist
Public Citizen
215 Pennsylvania Avenue NE
Washington, D.C. 20003
TEL: (202) 454-5182
CEL: (202) 905-7413
FAX: (202) 547-7392
Holman at aol.com
 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu>
To: Kelner, Robert <rkelner at cov.com>
Cc: 'law-election at uci.edu' <law-election at uci.edu>
Sent: Tue, Jul 19, 2011 12:44 pm
Subject: Re: [EL] Let’s Put Citizens United to the Test: Pakistani Agent $ in U.S. Elections


            But I'm        more interested in the constitutional question.  Is it        constitutionally permissible to bar these contributions?
        
      
    On 7/19/2011 9:38 AM, Kelner, Robert wrote:    
            Either        way, there would be a violation of the Foreign Agents        Registration Act, which is more likely the basis for the        Government's investigation.
       
      
        From:          Rick Hasen [mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu]          
          Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 12:06 PM
          To: law-election at UCI.EDU <law-election at uci.edu>          
          Subject: [EL] Let’s Put Citizens United to the Test:          Pakistani Agent $ in U.S. Elections          
         
      
      
 Let’s Put Citizens United to          the Test: Pakistani Agent $ in U.S. Elections 
      
 Posted          on July 19, 2011        by Rick Hasen 
      
        
NBC’s Pete Williams reports          “Law enforcement sources say the FBI has arrested an agent of          Pakistan’s official state intelligence service, accusing him          of making thousands of dollars in political contributions in          the United States without disclosing his connections to the          Pakistani government.”
        
The conduct, if proven, is clearly            illegal under federal law.  But is that federal law          unconstitutional?  Citizens United has told us that          in the First Amendment independent spending context, the          identity of the speaker does not matter for First Amendment          purposes.  And further that independent spending cannot          corrupt.  Some anti-campaign finance regulation folks have          claimed that Citizens United should be extended to          allow unlimited contributions, from whatever source,          to candidates (and some even claim that it is unconstitutional          to require even disclosure of such contributions).  That’s Justice            Thomas’s position too.
        
So let’s hear from these anti-regulatory folks.  If this          activity is proven against the Pakistani agent, would          prosecution of the agent be unconstitutional under the First          Amendment?  (For my thoughts on the foreign national question,          see my            recent Michigan piece.)
        
          
        
      
      
  Posted            in campaign finance         | Comments Off 
      
-- 
        Rick Hasen
        Professor of Law and Political Science
        UC Irvine School of Law
        401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
        Irvine, CA 92697-8000
        949.824.3072 - office
        949.824.0495 - fax
        rhasen at law.uci.edu
        http://law.uci.edu/faculty/page1_r_hasen.html
        http://electionlawblog.org
      
    
    
    
-- 
      Rick Hasen
      Professor of Law and Political Science
      UC Irvine School of Law
      401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
      Irvine, CA 92697-8000
      949.824.3072 - office
      949.824.0495 - fax
      rhasen at law.uci.edu
      http://law.uci.edu/faculty/page1_r_hasen.html
      http://electionlawblog.org
    
  
 
_______________________________________________





Law-election mailing list





Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu





http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election






 
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20110719/631bff62/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/png
Size: 1520 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20110719/631bff62/attachment.png>