UPDATE: 9/18, 8:30 p.m. Here’s an update to today’s political law links to reflect some late-breaking developments. The next set of links will be prepared on Thursday, Sept. 20th.
ROMNEY VIDEO AND THE LAW. Forbes. “It’s illegal in twelve states to record covertly at least the audio portion of a conversation where all parties have not consented.”
VH OPINION. Here (PDF).
B&C ON EC OPINION. Here. “‘The statute is anything but clear,’ said the court, ‘especially when viewed in the light of the Supreme Court’s decisions in Citizens United [and WRTL II].'”
EC VIEW. InsidePoliticalLaw.com. “An important legal barrier to spending on television and radio political ads has fallen.”
EC VIEW II. HVJ Law Blog. “The D.C. Circuit vacated the District Court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of Rep. Van Hollen, meaning the 2007 regulation is in effect once again pending further developments.”
VIEW ON VH. Political Law Briefing. “The effect of the ruling is to put in limbo a key disclosure rule less than 50 days before the November election.”
CCP ON VH. Here. “The ruling thus helps preserve longstanding rights to donor privacy, rights vindicated in a hard won series of court battles in the 1950s and 1960s by civil rights organizations.”
CFIF ON VH. Here. “Today, in conjunction with the Hispanic Leadership Fund, CFIF secured a critical victory on behalf of the First Amendment rights to free speech and free association.”
EC UPDATE. Lobby Comply Blog. “A federal appellate court has reversed a district court’s electioneering reporting decision, sending the issue back to the FEC.”
HOERSTING ON VH. NRO. “Today, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit handed down an important opinion that will protect political contributors from unnecessary retaliation in the remaining days of the election.”
VIDEO GAME POLITICAL ADS. Story here. “According to Ad Week, the Obama campaign had teamed up with Electronic Arts again to run ads on their video games in hotly-contested states leading up to Election Day. The campaign first did this in 2008.”
MD: CFR CONSENSUS. Story here. “A commission set up to advise the General Assembly how to reform its laws governing campaign financing edged closer to consensus on some key issues but has a lot of ground to cover at its final meeting scheduled for Sept. 27.”
MT: PARTY ENDORSEMENT CASE DECIDED. Volokh. “A Ninth Circuit panel has just struck down the Montana ban on political parties’ endorsing candidates for judicial office.”
PLEA IN NE CASE. Story here. “Nebraska state Sen. Brenda Council has pleaded guilty to filing false campaign finance reports that prosecutors say concealed her misuse of more than $60,000 in campaign donations at casinos.”
PA SUPREMES ON VOTER ID. Today’s opinion is here.
UPDATE: 9/19, 7:25 a.m.
ROMNEY LOAN. The Post. “Even as it bragged about beating President Obama in fundraising over the summer, Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign was so low on cash that it ended up engineering an unusual $20 million loan to meet expenses until the former Massachusetts governor was formally named as the Republican nominee in late August, officials disclosed Tuesday.”
REP. RICHARDSON AND NEW ISSUES. LA Times. “Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Long Beach), who drew a rare House reprimand last month, is once again drawing scrutiny from the House Ethics Committee.”
INTERNET ASSOC. Bloomberg. “The Internet Association, based in Washington, will advocate for economic growth and job creation in the Internet sector, it said in a release today.”
NOM AND NH. HuffPo. “Is New Hampshire reflective of NOM’s new national legal strategy? Are they and their partners joining campaign finance reformers fighting to get big money out of politics? Not likely.”