Dear Libertarian,
Year-round, the national Libertarian Party is pursuing court cases in various states and nationwide in pursuit of fair treatment for our national party, state parties, and candidates.
We don’t ask for special treatment. We just ask that the system is fair for all, including us.
It is what Libertarians do: When laws are unfair, we try to strike them down and, if that’s not possible, we’ll work to at least make them fairer.
We have real wins in this area on a regular basis but sometimes that takes some persistence.
Right now, we have an ongoing case against the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), over their arbitrary and ridiculous restrictions that limit how we can spend 90% of the maximum amount our donors might give us and impose annual contribution limits on gifts given to us by deceased donors.
Last week, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit turned aside the Libertarian National Committee’s (LNC) First Amendment challenge on these topics.
Three judges dissented and made comments such as these:
Judge Thomas B. Griffith says that it is “hard to imagine how” the government’s current restrictions “serve anticorruption goals sufficiently to justify the resulting constitutional burden.”
Judges Gregory G. Katsas and Karen L. Henderson added that the government’s analysis was “flawed at every turn,” and its proposed standard for evaluating the LNC’s First Amendment claim was “radical.”
As the court has previously stated, restrictions on the First Amendment must have a dire need to necessitate them. Hearing several appellate judges reaffirm that, even in dissent, is an encouraging sign.
We will continue to pursue this case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Right now, we anticipate that getting our petition before the Justices will cost $10,000.
If you’d like to help us pursue this lawsuit against the FEC, please give generously to our Legal Action Fund.
Nicholas Sarwark
Chair, Libertarian National Committee
