MT Chamber of Commerce v. Argenbright
| Decision Date | 10 November 1999 |
| Docket Number | 98-36257,98-36261,Nos. 98-36256,99-35032,99-35033,I-125,D,I,98-36266,s. 98-36256 |
| Citation | 226 F.3d 1049 |
| Parties | (9th Cir. 2000) MONTANA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE; SLETTEN CONSTRUCTION; LEHRKIND'S INC.; KALISPELL AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE; MONTANA HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION; MONTANA FARM BUREAU; MONTANA EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. ED ARGENBRIGHT, in his official capacity as Commissioner of Political Practices, Defendant, and LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF MONTANA, MONTANA COMMON CAUSE, MONTPIRG 2030 FUND AND CITIZENS FORefendant-Intervenor-Appellant. MONTANA MINING ASSOCIATION; NORTHWEST MINING ASSOCIATION; COMMUNITIES FOR A GREAT NORTHWEST; GOLDEN SUNLIGHT MINES, INC.; YELLOW BAND GOLD, INC.; CONTINENTAL LIME, INC., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. ED ARGENBRIGHT; MIKE COONEY, Defendants, and LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF MONTANA, MONTANA COMMON CAUSE, MONTPIRG 2030 FUND AND CITIZENS FORefendant-Intervenor-Appellant. MONTANA MINING ASSOCIATION; NORTHWEST MINING ASSOCIATION; COMMUNITIES FOR A GREAT NORTHWEST; GOLDEN SUNLIGHT MINES, INC.; YELLOW BAND GOLD, INC.; CONTINENTAL LIME, INC., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. ED ARGENBRIGHT, Defendant-Appellant, and MIKE COONEY, Defendant, and LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF MONTANA, MONTANA COMMON CAUSE, MONTPIRG 2030 FUND AND CITIZENS FORefendant-Intervenor. MONTANA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE; SLETTEN CONSTRUCTION; LEHRKIND'S INC.; KALISPELL AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE; MONTANA HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION; MONTANA FARM BUREAU; MONTANA EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. ED ARGENBRIGHT, in his official capacity as Commissioner of Political Practices, Defendant-Appellant, and LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF MONTANA, MONTANA COMMON CAUSE, MONTPIRG 2030 FUND AND CITIZENS FORefendant-Intervenor. MONTANA MINING ASSOCIATION, Plaintiff, and NORTHWEST MINING ASSOCIATION; COMMUNITIES FOR A GREAT NORTHWEST; CONTINENTAL LIME, INC., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. ED ARGENBRIGHT; MIKE COONEY, Defendants-Appellees, and LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF MONTANA, MONTANA COMMON CAUSE, MONTPIRG 2030 FUND AND CITIZENS FORntervenor-Appellee. MONTANA MINING ASSOCIATION, Plaintiff, and NORTHWEST MINING |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
William Perry Pendley, Mountain States Legal Foundation, Denver, Colorado, for the plaintiffs-appellants.
James M. Scheier, Assistant Attorney General, Helena, Montana, for appellant Ed Argenbright; Daniel J. Whyte, Special Assistant Attorney General, Helena, Montana, for defendantcross-appellant Michael Cooney.
Brenda Wright, National Voting Rights Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, and Jonathan Motl, Reynolds, Motl and Sherwood, P.L.L.P., Helena, Montana, for defendant-intervenorappellant League of Women Voters of Montana, Montana Common Cause, MontPirg 2030 Fund and Citizens for I-125.
Stanley T. Kaleczyc and Kimberly A. Beatty, Browning, Kaleczyc, Berry and Hoven, P.C., Helena, Montana, and Stephen A. Bokat, Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, Washington, D.C., for plaintiff-appellee Montana Chamber of Commerce; Dale R. Cockrell and Steven E. Cummings, Christensen, Moore, Cockrell & Cummings, P.C., Kalispell, Montana, for plaintiffs-appellees Montana Mining Assoc. and Yellow Band Gold, Inc.; Alan L. Joscelyn, Gough, Shanahan, Johnson & Waterman, Helena, Montana, for plaintiff-appellee Golden Sunlight Mines, Inc.
Elizabeth Brenneman, Billings, Montana, for amicus curiae ACLU of Montana.
Karl J. Englund, Jack R. Tuholske, P.C., Missoula, Montana, Elizabeth A. Brennan, Rossbach Brennan, P.C., Missoula, Montana, for amicus curiae Montana Environmental Information Center, Montanans for Common Sense Mining Laws -for I-137, and Montana Council of Trout Unlimited.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the District of Montana D.C.; Charles C. Lovell, District Judge, Presiding. No.CV-98-00037-CCL 97-00006-CCL CV-97-00037-CCL
Before: Pamela Ann Rymer, Michael Daly Hawkins, and M. Margaret McKeown, Circuit Judges.
These consolidated appeals involve the initiative process in Montana. Montana state officials and the League of Women Voters appeal the district court's decision, following a bench trial, that Initiative 125 (I-125), which prohibits direct corporate expenditures in ballot initiative campaigns, violates the First Amendment.2 The Montana Mining Association and various organizations subject to I-125 sought to delay, and then to invalidate, the election in which voters approved Initiative 137 (I-137) (restricting certain types of mining) on the ground that I-125 unconstitutionally constrained their participation in the election process. They appeal the district court's refusal to do either.3
We conclude that the constitutionality of I-125 is controlled by First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, 435 U.S. 765 (1978), and that the district court did not clearly err in its findings that corporate wealth had not distorted the ballot initiative process in Montana, and that in light of those findings, the First Amendment does not permit restricting corporate speech on public issues. Accordingly, we affirm the declaration that I-125 is unconstitutional.
Whether the court should have considered (and granted) MMA's request to delay the I-137 election is moot, and we cannot say that the court erred by later declining to invalidate it. We therefore affirm the judgment in the I-137 appeal as well.
Montana voters approved I-125 in November 1996. I-125 amended Montana's elections law by prohibiting direct corporate spending in connection with ballot issues.4 Specifically, the initiative amended the statutory provision concerning "[p]rohibited contributions from corporations." Mont. Code Ann. S 13-35-227. Under I-125, corporations (other than nonprofit corporations formed for solely political purposes) are prohibited from making a contribution or an expenditure in connection with a ballot issue. Corporations may establish and administer a separate, segregated fund that is allowed to solicit contributions from shareholders, employees, or members of the corporation, but not from the company itself.
The Chamber brought an action in federal district court seeking a declaratory judgment that the initiative was unconstitutional and an injunction restraining its enforcement. The court held on summary judgment that I-125 restricted core political speech, but that a trial was necessary to determine whether a compelling state interest justified the restriction.
Meanwhile, in July 1998, I-137 was certified for the November 1998 ballot. MMA, which opposed I-137, brought suit in September 1998 requesting a preliminary injunction that would either waive I-125 as applied to it, or delay the vote on I-137 until after the I-125 case was resolved. The district court consolidated the two actions.
The I-125 trial focused on the health of the Montana initiative process. I-125 Proponents presented evidence on the effect of corporate money in four unsuccessful Montana initiatives. Witnesses testified that corporate opponents substantially outspent initiative proponents in these races. Advocates for the initiatives testified that they believed the defeats resulted from large corporate expenditures in opposition. Political scientists testified that large scale spending was very effective in initiative campaigns, especially when used in opposition to a ballot issue, and poll results showed that Montanans believe corporations had too much influence in elections. I-125 Opponents, on the other hand, produced evidence that a variety of factors influence election results and that the side spending less money prevailed in 50% of initiative elections. Further, they showed that Montana voter turnout was much higher than the national average, ballot drop-off was low, and the number of ballot issues remained constant over the past 20 years. Finally, I-125 Opponents offered expert testimony that the Montana political system was healthy and free from corruption.
In the I-137 phase, MMA showed that I-125 limited mining companies' ability to oppose I-137 and that I-137 was a significant economic threat to these companies. It also adduced expert testimony that a successful challenge to I-137 was no longer possible, even if the I-125 restriction were lifted, because the I-137 election was only two weeks away. Evi-dence on the other side showed that the mining companies spent approximately the same amount fighting I-137 as they did in their challenge to the Clean Water Bill, where the I-125 restrictions did not apply.
The district court found the I-125 Opponents' evidence credible and persuasive, accepting their expert's opinion that there is no corruption or appearance of corruption in Montana ballot issue elections. It held that I-125, perhaps facially and certainly as applied, infringes upon the First Amendment rights of speech and association of those subject to its prohibitions; that it was not narrowly tailored to address only the campaign contributions and expenditures of large corporations; that requiring corporations to fund ballot issue campaign speech through separate, segregated funds (consisting of voluntary contributions from employees, officers, directors, and shareholders) deprives corporations of their ability to communicate political ideas directly to the electorate, which impermissibly chills their speech and association rights and precludes corporations from directly resisting potential laws that could put them out of business; that it...
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