The New Jersey Supreme Court upheld the state’s pay to play law today in this opinion.  The Court upheld the law noting that

[t]he appellate panel reasoned that the State’s interest in insulating the negotiation and award of State contracts from political contributions that pose the risk of improper influence, purchase of access, or the appearance thereof, is a sufficiently important interest to justify a limitation on political contributions. The panel further found that the $300 limitation on contributions to gubernatorial candidates and political committees by businesses and principals of businesses who enter into substantial State contracts constitutes a “means” of protecting this interest that is “closely drawn to avoid unnecessary abridgement of association freedoms.”