Kentucky Judge Bars Ads by Super PAC

This may be an idiosyncratic rejection that will be overturned before you can finish reading this post, but go ahead and revel in this probably temporary but possibly ground-breaking court ruling.

Beth Musgrave at the Herald:

A Franklin Circuit Judge issued a rare restraining order Monday to stop a group from airing attack ads against Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear after finding that the organization violated Kentucky’s campaign finance laws.

The Kentucky Democratic Party asked for the order against Restoring America, a third-party campaign committee, after the group failed to properly disclose its donors in a report to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance in recent days.

The group, organized under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Service code, must report the source of its more than $1.3 million in contributions to the registry, according to state campaign finance laws. But the committee’s finance report listed Restoring America Inc. as its only contributor. Both Restoring America and Restoring America Inc. were started on the same day and use the same mailing address.

Monday’s ruling was believed to be among the first in the nation to halt advertising by a third-party group, sometimes referred to as Super PACs in federal elections.

Jon Fleischaker, a Louisville lawyer who specializes in the First Amendment and media law, said he believed Monday’s ruling would be overturned.

“I think it’s unconstitutional,” Fleischaker said. “Political speech is at the core of First Amendment rights.”

First, political speech is at the core of First Amendment rights of people. Not corporations and not political front groups funded by corporations, the 21st century's Dred Scott decision notwithstanding.

Second, the ruling is based on the SuperPAC's refusal to obey Kentucky state law, which requires disclosure of donors.

The instant that Restoring America reveals the actual source of its $1.3 million dollars, it can buy all the political speech it wants.

The only question here is why Restoring America is hiding its donors.

Not that it's any mystery.