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September, 2009

Below are postings from September, 2009. (See Archives | Recent Headlines)

Decision in League of Women Voters v. Rokita

Sep. 17 - The Indiana Court of Appeals has issued an opinion (9/17) reversing the trial court's dismissal of the League of Women Voters amended complaint for declaratory judgment, which sought a judicial declaration that Indiana's Voter ID law violates the Indiana constitution.  The court of appeals further remanded the case to the trial court with instructions to enter an order declaring the Voter ID law void. [See EL@M case page for additional information, along with local reactions from the Indianapolis Star.]

News on the Oral Argument for Citizens United

Sep. 4 - The oral arguments for the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission are set for Wednesday, September 9, and information on the hearing has been leaked thanks to the SCOTUS blog.  This will be the first hearing for Justice Sotomayor, with plans to provide the audio of the argument shortly after the hearing.  For more discussion on this case, see Edward B. Foley's comment "Citizens United, Stare Decisis and Democracy."

Commentary

Donald B. Tobin

FAQ on social welfare organizations

Donald B. Tobin

The Frank E. and Virginia H. Bazler Designated Professor in Business Law and a senior fellow at Election Law @ Moritz explains the nuances of social welfare organizations and federal regulations related to them.

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In the News

Donald B. Tobin

How Did The IRS Get The Job Of Vetting Political Activity?

Professor Donald Tobin was interviewed by the Boston NPR station on its show Here & Now about the Internal Revenue Service's investigation into groups classified as social welfare organizations (marked by the 501(c)(4) tax classification). The IRS was in search of groups that are not focusing primarly on the social welfare of the country, but have a strong political advocacy facet. Political advocacy groups might want to be classified as 501(c)(4) organizations because under that classification they do not have to disclose their donors.

"The key is if you going to be engaged in candidate-type advocacy, and if you're going to intervene in elections and engage in election advocacy, we want disclosure of who your donors are," Tobin said.

“What groups are trying to do here is avoid having to disclose,” Tobin continued. “By earning the classification of social welfare, they’re avoiding the campaign disclosure that’s required for political organizations. So that’s really the underpinning of why we have this mess of the IRS having to get in and investigate and figure out whether an organization is political or not.”

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Info & Analysis

Ohio House Committee Recommends Upholding Landis' Election Victory

Yesterday, an Ohio House of Representatives committee recommended 5-4 that the Ohio House uphold the election victory of Republican State Representative Al Landis over Democratic challenger Josh O'Farrell. In February, the Ohio Supreme Court sent the O'Farrell v. Landis record to the House for consideration. According to an article in the Canton Repository, committee chairman and State Representative Matt Huffman said he expects a vote by the full House later this month.

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