Litigation

W. Va. Law May Face Suit; AP Cites Justice at Stake

By JAS Staff

Opponents of campaign finance laws are rattling their legal sabers in West Virginia, suggesting in an Associated Press article  that they may sue to overturn the state’s new public-financing law for state Supreme Court candidates. A similar challenge is being mounted against a Wisconsin’s law enacted last year.

The West Virginia law provides up to $550,000 to candidates who participate in the voluntary program, with additional “rescue” money available if a candidate’s opponents exceed a certain spending level.

The law was passed in part because of public revulsion over the state’s 2004 Supreme Court election, in which a coal executive spent $3 million to elect a new justice while his company appealed a $50 million jury award. According to the Center for Competitive Politics, public financing discriminates against candidates who choose not to take part, although the article doesn’t make clear exactly how.

As noted by Charles Hall, a Justice at Stake spokesman quoted in the article, a similar public financing law in North Carolina was unanimously upheld by the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which also oversees West Virginia. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal  that used similar grounds to those being cited by the Center for Competitive Politics.

“They’re trying to take a limited set of circumstances, and stretch it into a broad principle that overturns more than 30 years of federal court rulings,” Hall said. “They are a long way from the finish line.”

For the full article, click here. To learn more about public finance measures in West Virginia and Wisconsin, click here. To see a poll showing strong public support in West Virginia for public financing of Supreme Court elections,  click here.

Full post as published by The Gavel on March 29, 2010 (boomark / email).