Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. v. Barland

Ct. of Appeals entered permanent injunction barring enforcement of certain portions of Wisconsin’s campaign finance law, after finding that portions of said law violated plaintiffs’ (interest group and its political action committee (PAC)) First Amendment rights, where statute contained: (1) ban on corporate political expenditures; (2) cap on corporate fundraising for affiliated PAC; (3) lengthy (50 word) regulatory disclaimer as applied to 30-second radio ads; and (4) statutory and regulatory definitions of “political purposes” and “political committee” that were overly vague. It also found unconstitutional certain portions of administrative rules 1.38 and 1.91 that imposed political committee status and other restrictions on groups engaged in issue advocacy, including treatment as express advocacy on all issue advocacy made during 30/60 day pre-election periods, as well as contained improper PAC-like burdens on independent speakers and political groups not engaged in express advocacy as their major purpose.