[EL] Gorsuch and disclosure

[Sean Parnell]

I'm unsure why it's such a controversial statement that disclosure can chill political speech. It obviously can and does. The relevant question is, whether the interest of the government in disclosure is sufficiently compelling to justify the chilling of speech. Right now it appears Supreme Court precedent suggests that in an election-related context, that interest is sufficient, but in most other contexts it is highly suspect (and of course there are other factors such as narrow tailoring, etc.). Again I ask, is it now the position of advocates of greater disclosure that NAACP v. Alabama was wrongly decided? Or should be overturned or at least significantly limited in light of current circumstances? If not, then why exactly are Gorsuch's comments so troubling?

Sean Parnell


“Could Gorsuch Undo Campaign Finance Disclosure Rules?”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91774>
Posted on March 23, 2017 6:28 pm<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=91774> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
Bloomberg BNA:<http://news.bna.com/mpdm/MPDMWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=107884944&vname=mpebulallissues&jd=a0m1c1r9b7&split=0>
U..S. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch has observers wondering if he could be a vote to strike down campaign finance disclosure requirements if he winds up with a seat on the high court.
Such rules require candidates and political parties to disclose the source of their contributions, and are one of the few anti-corruption protections remaining after the high court’s decision in Citizens United v. Fed. Election Comm’n<http://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/document/Citizens_United_v_Fed_Election_Commn_558_US_310_130_S_Ct_876_175_>, 558 U.S. 310 (2010), Heather McGhee<http://www.demos.org/heather-c-mcghee> of Demos, New York, told Bloomberg BNA March 23.
McGhee testified in opposition to Gorsuch’s nomination on the final day of his confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Demos works to ensure “all have an equal say in our democracy,” according to the organization’s website.<http://www.demos.org/about-demos>
Gorsuch had an opportunity to clearly state the public benefits of campaign disclosure rules, but instead took the opportunity to suggest that such rules could actually “chill” political speech, McGhee said.
But judicial nominees are limited by ethics rules in what they can say during the confirmation process, so Gorsuch’s comments during the hearing shouldn’t raise alarms, Jeff Brindle<http://www.elec.state.nj.us/aboutelec/Commissioners/jbrindle.htm>, of the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, Trenton, N.J., told Bloomberg BNA March 23.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20170324/bc507b72/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 2021 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20170324/bc507b72/attachment.png>