Thompson v. Hebdon (Amicus Brief)

This case was previously Thompson v. Dauphinais.

Background

This is a challenge to Alaska’s system of campaign contribution limits currently before the Ninth Circuit. Plaintiffs-Appellants have argued that the state had insufficient evidence of quid pro quo corruption to justify limiting contributions to candidates and parties, relying largely on the trial court opinion in Lair v. Motl, another Ninth Circuit case currently on appeal.

The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law and pro bono counsel from the law firm Reed Smith LLP filed an amicus brief in Thompson v. Hebdon, defending the constitutionality of a ballot measure in Alaska that, among other things, enacted a $500 limit on contributions to candidates for state office. The case is before a three-judge panel in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals following a lower court’s decision affirming the limit’s constitutionality.

Thompson v. Dauphinais (Alaska District Court)

• District Court decision

Thompson v. Hebdon (Ninth Circuit)

• Plaintiff-Appellants’ Brief
• Defendant-Appellees’ Brief
• Brennan Center’s Amicus Brief