Russell v. Burris
| Decision Date | 03 October 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. LR-C-97-0089.,LR-C-97-0089. |
| Citation | 978 F.Supp. 1211 |
| Parties | Ron RUSSELL, Kent Ingram, William R. Austin, and Associated Industries of Arkansas Political Action Committee, Plaintiffs, v. Troy BURRIS, in his official capacity as chairperson of the Arkansas Ethics Commission, and Candi Sue Russell, Marvin Delph, Rita Looney, and Norton Wilson, in their official capacities as members of the Arkansas Ethics Commission, Defendants, and Citizens for Clean Government, Defendant-Intervenor. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Arkansas |
Robert D. Smith, III, Smith, Jernigan & Smith, Little Rock, AR, for plaintiffs.
Shirley E. Guntharp, Arkansas Attorney General's Office, Little Rock, AR, for defendants.
Scott C. Trotter, Trotter Law Firm, P.A., Little Rock, AR, Nancy Northup, E. Joshua Rosenkranz, Burt Neuborne, Kenneth N. Weine, New York City, for intervenor-defendant.
The plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment that Arkansas Initiated Act I of 1996 (Act I) violates their First Amendment rights to freedom of political speech and association,1 and their Fourteenth Amendment right of equal protection of the laws. They seek to enjoin the enforcement of both Act I and Arkansas Code 7-6-201(9)(B), a law that predated Act I. The plaintiffs' motion is granted in part and denied in part:
A. Enforcement of Arkansas Code section 7-6-203(a)(2) and (b)(2), which imposes a $300 per election contribution limit applicable to enumerated statewide offices, is enjoined.
B. Arkansas Code section 7-6-203(a)(1) and (b)(1), which imposes a $100 per election contribution limit applicable to all other offices, is upheld, except as to the offices of Supreme Court Justice and Court of Appeals Judge. Application of this section to the offices of Supreme Court Justice and Court of Appeals Judge, is enjoined.
C. Arkansas Code section 7-6-201(9)(B), which imposes a $200 per year limit on contributions to approved political action committees, is upheld.
D. Arkansas Code sections 7-6-201 and -203(d), pertaining to small donor political action committees, are upheld against the plaintiffs' challenge on equal protection grounds.
E. The plaintiffs lack standing to challenge Arkansas Code sections 7-6-201(13) and (14), and 7-6-203(k), which address contributions to an independent expenditure committee.
F. The plaintiffs' challenge to Arkansas Code section 7-6-224, concerning the authority of local jurisdictions to enact more restrictive campaign contribution regulations than state law, is dismissed because it is not ripe.
Act I, which amended Arkansas' existing campaign contribution laws, was approved by voters on November 5, 1996, by a two-to-one margin. Before Act I, a candidate could receive up to $1000 in contributions per election from individuals, corporations, unions, political action committees (PACs) and other groups. Ark.Code Ann. §§ 7-6-201(1), -203(a) (Michie Supp.1995). In addition, a state political party could contribute up to $2500 per election to that party's candidate. Id. § 7-6-203(d). Since 1990, approved PACs have been limited to contributions of no more than $200 per year from any person. Id. § 7-6-201(9). While not established by Act I, this limitation is attacked by the plaintiffs in this action.
Act I made substantial changes to Arkansas' campaign contribution law. Under the Act I amendments, candidates for the offices of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, State Auditor, Attorney General, and Commissioner of State Lands ("statewide candidates") may not accept campaign contributions exceeding $300 per election from any person.2 Candidates for all other offices, including Arkansas Supreme Court Justices and Court of Appeals Judges, are limited to contributions of no more than $100 per election from any person.3 Although state Supreme Court Justices run statewide, they are not included in the category of "statewide candidates" under the Act I limitations. Arkansas Court of Appeals Judges are elected from districts of approximately 400,000 persons. By way of comparison, Arkansas Senate districts include approximately 68,000 persons; Arkansas House of Representative districts include a population of approximately 24,000.
Act I did not disturb the right of political parties to contribute up to $2500 to a candidate per election,4 and it creates a small donor PAC subject to the same $2500 limit.5 Neither did the Act alter the definition of "persons," which remains: Id. § 7-6-201(1). Because approved PACs are persons by definition, Act I limits their contributions to statewide candidates to $300 per election and contributions to other candidates to $100 per election. Act I also limits aggregate contributions by any person to independent expenditure committees6 to $500 per calendar year.7 Introducing a public subsidy element, Act I provides for state tax credits for campaign contributions of $50 per year on an individual return and $100 on a joint return.8 Additionally, Act I allows municipalities, counties and townships to set contribution limits lower than those set by state law.9
The plaintiffs are three individuals and a registered Arkansas PAC. Plaintiff Kent Ingram is a businessman, former state senator, and frequent campaign contributor, who had made numerous campaign contributions at levels that would exceed the Act I limits, and who desires to continue to contribute at the higher levels. Plaintiff William R. Austin is a businessman who wishes to contribute in amounts exceeding the Act I limits. Plaintiff Ron Russell is the Executive Vice-President of the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce, a former mayor, and campaign contributor in amounts that would exceed current Act I limits. Mr. Russell also wishes to contribute at the higher levels. Plaintiff Associated Industries of Arkansas Political Action Committee (AIAPAC) is an approved PAC favoring business interests, that asserts the right to contribute $2500 per election to candidates, just as a small donor PAC may do. Plaintiffs Ingram and Russell are officers of the State Chamber PAC. Plaintiffs Austin and Russell are officers of AIAPAC.
The defendants are the individual members of the Arkansas Ethics Commission, sued in their official capacities. The Commission administers Arkansas campaign finance and disclosure laws and investigates alleged violations of these laws. Defendant-Intervenor Citizens for Clean Government (Citizens), is a coalition of organizations including the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), Common Cause, the New Party, and a local union. Citizens was the principal proponent of Act I.
The plaintiffs claim that the following provisions of Act I violate their rights to freedom of political expression (speech) and association under the First Amendment: (1) the $100 and $300 limits on campaign contributions to candidates; (2) Act I's authorization for local jurisdictions to set even lower contribution limits; and (3) the $500 limit to annual contributions a person may give to an independent expenditure committee. The plaintiffs challenge, on the same grounds, Arkansas' $200 per person limit on annual contributions to an approved PAC. As noted earlier, this latter limit was approved by a ballot initiative in 1990, and thus pre-dated Act I. The plaintiffs claim further that in allowing small donor PACs to contribute $2500 per election to a candidate, Arkansas denies equal protection of the laws to approved PACs, which are subject to the $100 and $300 individual contribution limits. The defendants and Citizens argue that plaintiffs lack standing to assert these claims.
This Court's jurisdiction is restricted by the U.S. Constitution, which allows federal courts to hear only "cases" and "controversies." U.S. Const. art. III, § 2, cl. 1. The Court cannot render advisory opinions. Whether a plaintiff has standing to invoke the jurisdiction of the federal courts is a threshold question in any case. To establish standing a plaintiff must show: (1) that she suffered an injury in fact — "an invasion of a legally protected interest" that is both "concrete and particularized," and "actual or imminent, not `conjectural' or `hypothetical'"; (2) a causal connection between the injury and the challenged action; and (3) that a favorable decision is likely to redress her injury. Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560-61, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 2136, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992) (citations omitted). When a party brings "a pre-enforcement challenge to a statute that both provides for criminal penalties and abridges First Amendment rights, `a credible threat of present or future prosecution itself works an injury that is sufficient to confer standing.'" Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life v. FEC, 113 F.3d 129, 131 (8th Cir.1997) (quoting New Hampshire Right to Life Political Action Comm. v. Gardner, 99 F.3d 8, 13 (1st Cir.1996)). The Honorable H. Franklin Waters discusses this precise issue in a case challenging the constitutionality of Act I. Arkansas Right to Life State Political Action Comm. v. Butler, 972 F.Supp. 1187 (W.D.Ark.1997).
In Arkansas Right to Life, the defendants argued that the plaintiffs lacked standing to raise a claim against Defendant Butler, a State Attorney for Benton County, Arkansas. The defendants contended that there was no real and immediate threat that Butler would prosecute the plaintiffs, because prosecutors had not brought criminal charges for violations of state contribution limits since the limits were enacted in 1975. The court...
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