America's #1 Online Cigar Auction
first, best, biggest!

Last post 23 months ago by Sunoverbeach. 11 replies replies.
!st Amendment and Freedom of Speech
rfenst Offline
#1 Posted:
Joined: 06-23-2007
Posts: 39,112
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Discuss...
rfenst Offline
#2 Posted:
Joined: 06-23-2007
Posts: 39,112
Federal judge blows up Florida's law limiting contributions for ballot initiatives


News Service of Florida

A federal judge has rejected an attempt by Florida lawmakers to limit contributions to political committees supporting ballot initiatives, saying it violates the First Amendment.

U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor issued an 18-page ruling Wednesday that included a permanent injunction against the $3,000 contribution limit, which passed in 2021 and was revised this year. The limit was part of long-running efforts by Republican leaders to make it harder to pass ballot initiatives to amend the state Constitution.

Winsor also disputed arguments by attorneys for the Florida Elections Commission, the defendant in the lawsuit, that the contribution limit would help curb fraud in the crucial process of collecting petition signatures to put initiatives on the ballot.

“Here, there is no decent fit between the restriction and the asserted anti-fraud purpose,” wrote Winsor, who was appointed to the federal bench by former Republican President Donald Trump. “For one, the FEC (Florida Elections Commission) shows no clear connection between large individual contributions and fraud. In the FEC’s view, the fraud illustrates how Florida’s ballot initiative process is susceptible to the influence of large donors who fund petition gatherers, who in turn have incentives to falsify petition signatures. But the FEC offers no reason to think that large individual contributions — as opposed to large aggregate contributions — are to blame for this dynamic.”

The 2021 law placed a $3,000 limit on contributions from in-state and out-of-state donors to political committees gathering petition signatures. Winsor last year issued a preliminary injunction to block the law, saying it violated First Amendment rights to political expression.

The Legislature this year revised the law to apply the $3,000 limit only to out-of-state donors. The state’s attorneys argued that the change made the lawsuit moot.

Winsor acknowledged in Wednesday’s ruling that the revision was a “complicating factor.” Nevertheless, he ruled the limit unconstitutional.

“If anything, the amendment (this year’s revision) undermines the asserted interest in preventing fraud,” Winsor wrote. “The FEC has argued that (the law limiting contributions) is important to curb the incentives that ‘big money’ has in facilitating fraud. But the amendment will allow unlimited contributions to political committees that support ballot initiatives, so long as the money comes from Floridians. This will only undermine any suggestion that there is an adequate ‘fit’ between the law and the asserted interest.”

The judge added, “In short, the parties have not shown that the new law will change anything, so it provides no basis to deny the requested relief. This order will enjoin the FEC from enforcing the contribution limit against plaintiffs as to donations to political committees that sponsor a ballot initiative.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and political committees filed the lawsuit, arguing that the contribution limit unconstitutionally restricted speech and was designed to prevent citizens’ initiatives from reaching the ballot.

Committees typically have to raise and spend millions of dollars to collect enough petition signatures to take issues to voters. To get on the 2024 ballot, for example, committees would need to submit 891,589 valid signatures.

The law would have applied only to contributions made during the petition-gathering process — not to contributions made after initiatives qualify for the ballot.

Voters during the past two decades have used the initiative process to make a series of high-profile changes, such as legalizing medical marijuana and increasing the minimum wage.

But Republican lawmakers have taken a series of steps to clamp down on the initiative process, arguing that many of the issues should be decided by the Legislature, rather than by amending the Constitution.

GOP lawmakers have frequently railed against large donors funding initiative drives. But supporters of initiatives argue that the Legislature often ignores the will of voters and that ballot initiatives are the only route to pass certain issues.
HockeyDad Offline
#3 Posted:
Joined: 09-20-2000
Posts: 46,069
Florida Constitution

Article 10. SECTION 21. Limiting cruel and inhumane confinement of pigs during pregnancy.—Inhumane treatment of animals is a concern of Florida citizens. To prevent cruelty to certain animals and as recommended by The Humane Society of the United States, the people of the State of Florida hereby limit the cruel and inhumane confinement of pigs during pregnancy as provided herein.

This was a ballot initiative.
rfenst Offline
#4 Posted:
Joined: 06-23-2007
Posts: 39,112
HockeyDad wrote:
Florida Constitution

Article 10. SECTION 21. Limiting cruel and inhumane confinement of pigs during pregnancy.—Inhumane treatment of animals is a concern of Florida citizens. To prevent cruelty to certain animals and as recommended by The Humane Society of the United States, the people of the State of Florida hereby limit the cruel and inhumane confinement of pigs during pregnancy as provided herein.

This was a ballot initiative.

I agree it is stupid, but if you believe in each person being allowed to vote as they choose, you simply have to accept the overwhelming majority of the people's vote. We need 60% of the vote to amend our constitution. That is a high enough bar IMO.
HockeyDad Offline
#5 Posted:
Joined: 09-20-2000
Posts: 46,069
The big problem with ballot initiatives and state constitution amendments is out of state funding.

It is one of the ways California exports its laws to other states.
MACS Offline
#6 Posted:
Joined: 02-26-2004
Posts: 79,599
^Yup...
rfenst Offline
#7 Posted:
Joined: 06-23-2007
Posts: 39,112
HockeyDad wrote:
The big problem with ballot initiatives and state constitution amendments is out of state funding.

It is one of the ways California exports its laws to other states.

I agree.
Sunoverbeach Online
#8 Posted:
Joined: 08-11-2017
Posts: 14,588
I wasn't originally going to get a brain transplant, but then I changed my mind.
Speyside2 Offline
#9 Posted:
Joined: 11-11-2021
Posts: 2,307
By the people, of the people, for the people. I think a ballot initiative fits in this nicely. If Florida does not represent the people of Florida the the people of Florida have a way to be represented by themselves. Attempting to infringe on that is unethical at a minimum.
DrafterX Offline
#10 Posted:
Joined: 10-18-2005
Posts: 98,508
Screw the pigs...Not talking
Sunoverbeach Online
#11 Posted:
Joined: 08-11-2017
Posts: 14,588
I bought a vacuum cleaner six months ago and so far all it's been doing is gathering dust.
Users browsing this topic
Guest