Victory for Contribution Limits: Supreme Court Allows Ninth Circuit’s Lair Decision to Stand Posted on January 14, 2019 Today the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear a challenge to Montana’s political contribution limits in a case that Free Speech For People has been working on since 2014. The history of the Lair case dates back to September 2011. The plaintiffs alleged that Montana’s campaign contribution limits are unconstitutionally low and violate the First Amendment.Read More
Former MT Supreme Court Justice James Nelson & Jeff Clements: Why Montanans Should Support 28th Amendment Posted on August 4, 2016 (August 4, 2016) Free Speech For People Board Member James C. Nelson co-authored an op-ed in the Billings Gazette with Free Speech For People Co-Founder and American Promise founder, Jeff Clements. Read More
Big money strikes again in Montana Posted on May 18, 2016 (October 2, 2018) On Tuesday, the federal district judge in the Lair v. Motl case struck down Montana’s campaign contribution limits (passed by the voters through a 1994 ballot initiative) as “too low.”Read More
Latest Developments in Montana Contribution Limits Case Posted on September 2, 2015 (September 3, 2015) On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an order denying Montana’s petition for rehearing en banc in Montana’s contribution limits case. Ron Fein provides a quick background and our analysis after the jump.Read More
Will Montana Judges be for Sale? Posted on September 17, 2014 (September 25, 2014) Retired Montana Supreme Court Justice and Free Speech For People legal advisory committee member, James Nelson writes to the Independent Record on whether or not Montana’s court and judges will be forced “onto the auction block.” Nelson writes of the role of money in politics in a post-Citizens United era, and explains “there is no reason to believe it won’t happen in Montana’s upcoming elections for judges and justices.”Read More