Judge Cacheris Reaffirms Ruling in Danielczyk

Yesterday, Judge Cacheris, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia, reaffirmed his ruling in United States v. Danielczyk, holding the federal prohibition against direct corporate contributions to candidates unconstitutional under the First Amendment.

Upon reconsideration of his initial opinion a week earlier, Judge Cacheris bolstered his ruling by clarifying that FEC v. Beaumont, a 2003 Supreme Court ruling, was still controlling, but did not apply in this case, because it addressed only an as-applied challenged to the corporate contribution ban by a non-profit advocacy organization.  Therefore, FEC v. Beaumont was not a controlling precedent in a facial challenge to the statute in the context of for-profit corporations, which would require a different constitutional analysis.  Ordinarily, the reasoning of FEC v. Beaumont might resolve a challenge by a for-profit corporation, but Judge Cacheris observed that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. FEC had fundamentally abrogated FEC v. Beaumont’s reasoning.  Judge Cacheris concluded that the Supreme Court held that corporations are associations of individuals entitled to the same First Amendment rights as any other association of individuals in the context of independent expenditures and this rule of equality applies with the same force to direct contributions.

Additionally, Judge Cacheris relied upon the reasoning in Buckley v. Valeo, holding contribution limits to candidates constitutional, and First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, which stated the identity of the corporation as a speaker, especially in the context of political speech, is of no consequence to the First Amendment protection its speech is afforded.

Reconciling the reasoning of these cases, Judge Cacheris ruled, because individuals can make direct donations within limits without risking corruption, and because the government cannot restrict political speech based on speaker’s corporate identity, corporations must be allowed to donate subject to the same limits as individuals.

The order clarifies 2 U.S.C. § 441b(a)’s flat ban on direct corporate contributions to political campaigns, but only as applied to for-profit corporations at issue in this case.  The case is being litigated by RNLA First Vice President Lee E. Goodman, who briefed and argued on behalf of one of the defendants in the case, while assisting the Federal Public Defenders Office and Todd Richman.  RNLA Virginia Chair Chris Ashby also is assisting in the case. 

“Judge Cacheris reached the correct result twice,” Goodman said.  “Citizens United was a sea change in campaign finance jurisprudence and it compelled this result.” 

RNLA Board of Governors member, and General Counsel of the James Madison Center for Free Speech, James Bopp Jr., said “This is a victory for free speech and the First Amendment. Now citizens who associate together and choose to incorporate will not lose their speech rights in the process.”