US Supreme Court declines to review constitutionality of RI election finance disclosure law
The Office of
the Attorney General had previously successfully defended the constitutionality
of Rhode Island’s Independent Expenditures and Electioneering Communications
Act (Act), a law designed to promote transparency and maintain the integrity of
elections, in Federal District Court and later before the United
States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
The Act, subject
to certain exceptions, requires disclosures and disclaimers for
election-related expenditures of over $1,000 or more in any calendar year for
either independent expenditures or electioneering communications.
In 2019,
plaintiffs, The Gaspee Project and Illinois Opportunity Project, challenged the
constitutionality of the Act – specifically its disclosure and disclaimer requirements.
“State campaign and election finance laws exist for a reason: to inform Rhode Islanders of the sources of financial support, directly or indirectly, for candidates for public office,” said Attorney General Peter Neronha.
“Such information is critical to
voters evaluating the messaging they are subjected to by those spending
significant sums of money to influence their decisions. An informed electorate
is integral to our democracy, and the Court’s action sends a strong message in
support of that principle.”
Campaign Legal
Center (CLC) served as outside co-counsel along with the Office of the Attorney
General in the Supreme Court proceedings.