Litigation Documents

You can read all the key litigation documents, Court decisions and press releases on our case at the Institute for Justice website or the Center for Competitive Politics website. 

The Issue in a Nutshell

From the Institute for Justice Backgrounder on the SpeechNow.org case:

SpeechNow.org is an independent group of citizens who have joined together to protect the First Amendment at the ballot box.  Its mission is to protect First Amendment rights by advocating the election of federal candidates who favor free political speech and the defeat of those who favor speech restrictions in the name of campaign finance “reform.”

Unfortunately, the group may be silenced by the very campaign finance laws it opposes.

According to federal law and the Federal Election Commission, any time two or more people pool their resources to support or oppose a federal candidate, they become a “political committee” subject to government regulations and limits.  The law forbids anyone from giving SpeechNow.org more than $5,000 per year and imposes a host of complicated rules on the group.

These limits and red tape make it virtually impossible for new independent citizen groups like SpeechNow.org to raise start-up funding and effectively reach voters.

They are also unconstitutional for a group like SpeechNow.org.  SpeechNow.org is not a PAC or a political party, it takes no corporate or union money, and it never donates to or coordinates with candidates.  It is simply Americans talking to Americans about an issue of vital public importance:  the right to speak freely about politics and whom to elect to secure it.

The First Amendment guarantees individuals the right to speak without limit, so it should be common sense that groups of individuals—like SpeechNow.org—have the same rights.

That is why on February 14, 2008, SpeechNow.org and its members joined with the Institute for Justice and the Center for Competitive Politics to file SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission in federal court.

The lawsuit aims to vindicate the First Amendment rights to free speech and association and to pave the way for SpeechNow.org and other groups of citizens to make their voices heard in elections—without being hamstrung by harmful government limits on speech.