Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third District upheld the constitutionality of Delaware's Election Disclosure Act. The 2012 law, which is a transparency safeguard instituted after Citizens United v. FEC, closed the loophole allowing outside groups to evade disclosure as long as their ads, known as "sham issue ads," refrained from expressly advocating for a certain candidate's victory or defeat.
For instance, the ad could simply say "Call Senator So-and-So and tell them to stop doing such and such." The 2012 disclosure act stipulates that if an outside political group mentions any Delaware candidate in a message, it must identify itself and who its main donors are. And in upholding the law, a three-judge panel unanimously rejected the plaintiff's argument that disclosure should be confined specifically to instances of "express advocacy."
"The Delaware Elections Disclosure Act promotes transparency in elections, which the Supreme Court has long recognized as a vital governmental interest, and yesterday's ruling ensures that Delaware voters will continue to have access to the information they need to make informed decisions on Election Day," said Tara Malloy, senior counsel for the Campaign Legal Center, in a statement.
Campaign finance reform advocates call this law one of the strongest state disclosure laws in the country. It's actually largely based on federal law that was passed in the 2002 McCain-Feingold Act, which was the last major act of campaign finance reform at the federal level. There are a number of states that have instituted similar provisions that keep unaccountable groups from swaying voters.
Chalk this up as one small win in the broader fight to expose the big-money billionaires who run rampant in our brave, new post-Citizens world.
