Supreme Court Upholds Restriction on Judicial Campaign Fundraising

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Florida rule that bans judicial candidates from directly and personally soliciting campaign funds. New York has a prohibition in place that is almost identical to Florida’s [NYCRR 100.5(A)(1)(h)], as do a number of other states.

The Court’s 5-4 decision was a surprise to some, as the recent trend of the nation’s highest court has been to reject campaign restrictions on the grounds that they violate the First Amendment rights of candidates and donors.

The ruling is based on the idea that judges are different from other elected officials, making regulation of this nature a “compelling state interest.”

Chief Justice John Roberts was joined by Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan and Ginsberg. Ginsberg would have gone further, saying that states should have “substantial latitude” in the regulation of judicial elections.

Justices Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy and Alito dissented. Justice Scalia called the Florida rule a “wildly disproportionate restriction upon speech.”