ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANTS
Robbin Stewart
Indianapolis, Indiana
AMICUS CURIAE
COMMON CAUSE/INDIANA
W. Russell Sipes
Indianapolis, Indiana
Deborah Goldberg
J.J. Gass
New York, New York
ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEES
Steve Carter
Attorney General
Frances Barrow
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
__________________________________________________________________
IN THE
SUPREME COURT OF INDIANA
__________________________________________________________________
BRIAN MAJORS, et al., )
)
Appellants (Plaintiffs Below), )
) Indiana Supreme Court
v. ) Cause No. 94S00-0303-CQ-94
)
MARSHA ABELL, et al., )
)
Appellees (Defendants Below) )
__________________________________________________________________
FROM THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT
The Honorable William J. Bauer, Senior Circuit Judge
The Honorable Richard A. Posner, Circuit Judge
The Honorable Frank H. Easterbrook, Circuit Judge
Cause No. 02-2204
__________________________________________________________________
ON CERTIFIED QUESTION
__________________________________________________________________
July 24, 2003
BOEHM, Justice.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has requested our
response to the following certified question:
Is the term persons in Ind. Code §§ 3-9-3-2.5(b)(1), (d) limited to candidates,
authorized political committees or subcommittees of candidates, and the agents of such committees
or subcommittees, or does it have a broader scope, and, if so, how
much broader?
The certified question arises in a lawsuit brought by several individuals challenging Indiana
Code section 3-9-3-2.5 (Supp. 2001) as violating their rights to free speech guaranteed
under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The
United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana dismissed the complaint
for lack of standing as to some plaintiffs and mootness as to others.
The Seventh Circuit concluded that neither standing nor mootness precluded consideration of
the merits of the plaintiffs claims, but noted that resolution of an issue
of interpretation of the statute might control the disposition of the constitutional issues
the plaintiffs seek to raise. Accordingly, the Seventh Circuit certified this question
to this Court pursuant to 7th Cir. Rule 52 and Ind. R. App.
Proc. 64.
Majors v. Abell, 317 F.3d 719, 725 (7th Cir. 2003).
Section 2.5 is a part of the Indiana Election Laws. In broad
brush, it provides that any person must include a disclaimer in general public
political advertising if the person either solicits a contribution or finances communications expressly
advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate. This disclaimer
must disclose who paid for the ad, and, under some circumstances, who authorized
it. The section provides a number of exemptions and definitions and includes
detailed provisions requiring different disclosures depending on whether the material is authorized and/or
financed by a candidate, a candidates committee, a political committee (PAC), or a
party organization.
See footnote
The issue as framed by the Seventh Circuit appears as an abstract question
of statutory construction. Indeed, as that court observed, on its face, the
statute seems quite plainly to apply to communications financed by every individual and
every form of legal entity. That is the meaning ordinarily given to
person in statutes, and is the meaning provided by section 36 of the
Definitions Chapter of the Election Laws. According to Indiana Code section 3-5-2-36,
person means an individual or an organization. Section 1 of the same
Chapter provides that its definitions apply throughout this title, and this title inescapably
refers to Title 3 (Elections).
See footnote
This definition has been in the Election
Laws since the election laws were overhauled in 1986.
See footnote
It is in
substance the same as earlier more prolix but equally broad definitions of person.
See footnote
The State points out that Section 2.5 is found in Article 9, Chapter
3, and Section 1 of that Chapter entitled Application of chapter
See footnote
includes the
following provision:
(a) . . . this chapter applies to candidates in all elections and
caucuses and to the following types of committees:
(1) Candidates committees.
(2) Regular party committees.
(3) Political action committees.
(4) An auxiliary party organization.
(5) A legislative caucus committee.
Ind. Code § 3-9-3-1 (1998).
See footnote
The State contends that this section has
the effect of including only candidates and the listed types of committees among
the persons required by Section 2.5 to include a disclaimer. Indeed, the
State claims the Application section is meaningless unless given that construction. We
find this contention difficult to fit within the statutory framework. We have
already noted the seemingly ironclad and purposeful use of person as all-inclusive.
The Application section the State cites is not inconsistent with the conclusion that
person has its usual meaning. Language identical to the quoted portion of
Chapter 3, Section 1(a) appears in Section 1(a) of each of the other
four Chapters in Article 9.
See footnote
It seems clear that these Application provisions
serve to identify the types of elections to which the various chapters apply,
but do not limit the reference to persons within those chapters. Several
of the provisions in these statutes would make no sense whatever if person
were limited as the State suggests. For example, the Treasurer of a
committee is required to file a report listing every person who contributed over
$100.
See footnote
A committee may remove a person as chair or treasurer without
cause.
See footnote
Every person who accepts a contribution for a committee must get
it to the Treasurer within thirty days.
See footnote
And so on. Person
in section 2.5 is the same term introduced by the same application section
found in other sections of the same Election Campaigns Chapter where it can
only be read to mean everybody and everything. As a matter of statutory
interpretation, there is little wiggle room here.
In the face of this rather overwhelming statutory evidence, both the plaintiffs and
the State nevertheless contend that constitutional doctrine should govern our interpretation of the
statute. As the Seventh Circuit noted, courts, including this one, sometimes find
elasticity to preserve constitutionality.
See, e.g., A Womans Choice-East Side Womens Clinic
v. Newman, 671 N.E.2d 104, 107 (Ind. 1996) (we would construe the .
. . [statute] in a constitutional manner insofar as the statutory language would
permit.). Accordingly, we consider whether constitutional considerations drive us to find the
statute to be more limited than appears on its face.
The State argues for its less expansive reading on the ground that the
statute, if applicable to political advertising by anyone, may fall under the plaintiffs
First Amendment attack. In order to understand the States contention it is
necessary to review the federal constitutional doctrine surrounding regulation of campaign literature.
In
McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commn, 514 U.S. 334 (1995), the Supreme Court
invalidated an Ohio statute regulating campaign literature. Mrs. McIntyre was a classic
lone pamphleteer who printed up some materials opposing her local school tax levy.
Some of these identified her as the author and others bore only
the legend CONCERNED PARENTS AND TAX PAYERS. She was convicted and fined
$100 under an Ohio statute making it a misdemeanor to omit identification of
the source of any campaign materials in any candidate or public question election.
Although she died before the case reached the Supreme Court of the United
States, her estate carried on and ultimately prevailed in her contention that her
activity was constitutionally protected.
McIntyre recognized that election disclosure laws raised different considerations from those presented by
the general prohibition of anonymous pamphlets that had been held unconstitutional in Talley
v. California, 362 U.S. 60 (1960). Laws prohibiting anonymous communications at least
to some extent burden speech and raise First Amendment concerns. If the
speech is political, as it undoubtedly is in an election, it enjoys the
highest level of protection, and any restriction of that speech requires a compelling
governmental interest. Ohio sought to justify what is obviously an abridgment of
speech principally on the ground that its statute guarded against misinformation in campaigns,
and was therefore narrower than the general ban that Talley had invalidated.
This contention did not carry the day.
The election in
McIntyre was a school tax referendum. The focus of
that election was a single issue, not individual candidates and their character or
their stances on multiple issues. In such an election, the Supreme Court viewed
the state interest as principally [t]he simple interest in providing voters with additional
relevant information. McIntyre, 514 U.S. at 348. So viewed, McIntyre found
little force to the state interest asserted to justify its regulation of speech.
The state cannot compel a speaker to add items of information to
those the speaker chooses to present. To the extent completeness of information
is the States concern, requiring identification of the source adds little to the
states justification, and fails to survive the strict scrutiny required of statutes burdening
political speech. As the Seventh Circuit noted, the majority in McIntyre described
the identity of the author as just one more item of information that
the author may choose to include or omit. Majors, 317 F.3d at
724 (citing McIntyre, 514 U.S. at 348). Accordingly, the source of the
statement was not particularly useful in evaluating its merits on a referendum issue.
The Supreme Court found the states interest in preserving the accuracy of
statements in elections to be on a different footing from the general interest
in providing more information. Despite its greater force, that interest was not
furthered by the Ohio statute, which provided no exemption for truthful communications, and
other statutory provisions and common law remedies were available to redress false communications.
Based on its reading of the Seventh Circuits opinion to suggest that Section
2.5 will be found unconstitutional under
McIntyre if it regulates speech by every
individual and organization, the State argues for a construction that would require a
disclaimer only from those candidates and committees. Because the disclaimer statute burdens
core political speech, it is subject to strict scrutiny. McIntyre, 514 U.S.
at 347. However, we are not persuaded that McIntyre necessarily implies that
the Indiana statute violates the First Amendment. Section 2.5 was added to
the Indiana Code in 1997 in response to McIntyre and the decision of
the United States District Court for the Southern District in Stewart v. Taylor,
953 F. Supp. 1047 (S.D. Ind. 1997). Previous versions of the Indiana
Election Laws had, like the Ohio statute, applied to both candidate elections and
votes on public questions, but Section 2.5 is limited to candidate elections.
Before its 1997 revision, the Indiana disclaimer requirement had none of the exemptions
found in subsection 2.5(a), which now exempts small direct mailings
See footnote
and communications with
regard to public questions,
See footnote
among other things.
McIntyre dealt with leafleting in a local referendum. We think somewhat different
considerations apply in evaluating a disclaimer requirement in advertising in candidate elections.
Indeed, in First Natl Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, 435 U.S. 765 (1978),
the Supreme Court expressly noted that although corruption concerns were a compelling state
interest in candidate elections, they were not significant in the context of a
referendum. Id. at 790. McIntyre itself pointed out that in candidate elections
the state can identify a compelling state interest in avoiding the corruption that
might result from campaign expenditures. McIntrye, 514 U.S. at 356. The state
has a legitimate concern that anonymous campaign support will become a quid for
the quo of post election largesse. Id.; see also Citizens Against Rent
Control v. City of Berkeley, 454 U.S. 290, 297 (1981). Thus, McIntyre
expressly noted that a more narrowly drawn statute might pass constitutional muster.
McIntyre, 514 U.S. at 356.
In
McIntyre, Justice Ginsburg, concurring separately, expressly noted that the Supreme Court did
not thereby hold that the State may not in other, larger circumstances require
the speaker to disclose its interest by disclosing its identity. McIntyre, 514
U.S. at 358. Four years later, in Buckley v. Am. Constitutional Law
Found., 525 U.S. 182 (1999), Justice Ginsburg wrote for a five-justice majority that
struck down some aspects of Colorados regulation of solicitors in petition drives to
place an issue on the ballot in a referendum. Once again the
Court noted the distinction between candidate elections and referenda. Id. at 203.
The majority found unconstitutional a requirement that solicitors wear badges with their
names. But even in a referendum the majority found constitutional the requirement
that a public affidavit disclose the name and address of the solicitor.
A post-solicitation affidavit did not expose the solicitor to the risk of intimidation
that an identifying badge presented in a face-to-face encounter with potential voters.
The affidavit was thus the type of regulation for which McIntyre left room.
Id. at 200.
We think there is a very strong state policy reflected in the 1997
amendment. It was an obvious effort to tailor a more narrowly drawn
statute that would serve core state interests in the integrity of candidate races
while avoiding the concerns that resulted in the invalidation of the Ohio statute.
We also think that the distinctions between Ohios statute and Indianas revised
version are substantial. The most important of these are that Indianas law
permits some individual pamphleteering and applies only to candidate elections.
The Supreme Court in
McIntyre noted some, but not all of the differences
for these purposes between issue elections and candidate elections. The Supreme Court pointed
out the States proper concern for the potential of election corruption through anonymous
candidate support. This interest was identified as on a different footing from
the mere desire for more complete information. McIntyre discussed this state interest
largely as concern for election finance violations. In distinguishing the Ohio statute
from the interests validated in federal campaign finance law in Buckley v. Valeo,
See footnote
the Court identified the compelling state interest in avoiding the corruption that might
result from campaign expenditures. McIntyre, 514 U.S. at 356.
Deterrence of corruption in candidate elections was first identified as a compelling government
interest in
Buckley v. Valeo, which found that concern sufficient to justify federal
election law restrictions on campaign contributions and the requirement of disclosure of contributors.
Buckley, 424 U.S. at 66. As Buckley noted, the anonymous advertisement
may be a surreptitious campaign contribution violation. Id. at 81. But
in addition to concern for outright campaign finance violations and quid pro quo
corruption, we think there is also a related but very important state interest
in the integrity of public statements in candidate elections that differs from elections
in which public questions are put to voters. Several potential abuses are
presented by anonymous advertising in a candidate race. Anonymous statements about candidates
for public office, even if true, can be very damaging, particularly if launched
in the waning days of an election when it may be difficult or
even impossible to achieve broad communication of any response. Indiana saw such
an attack in the 2000 election when one candidate for attorney general was
described in ads by a third-party organization as one who represented convicted drug
dealers. This may have been a true statement, but it was an attack
that the candidates opponent disclaimed and disavowed. Its effect was presumably mitigated
by the disclosure of the source in compliance with Indiana law. At
least the voters could see who was making this claim, and form an
assessment as to what its agenda was likely to be. They could
then form their own views as to whether the candidates having served as
defense attorney in a case that resulted in conviction for dealing had anything
at all to do with the motivation to defeat the candidate. This
example of a well-funded interest group taking out advertisements to run a statewide
media blitz shortly before an election is a far cry from the modest
resources of Mrs. McIntyre mustered to oppose her school levy.
There is a second concern with anonymous ads in candidate elections. Charges can
be leveled that no candidate would make because the claims would be deemed
irresponsible, or would generate support from some groups, but a backlash from others.
Anonymity permits personal charges to be leveled at one candidate that may be
equally true of another. The voters have redress at the polls if
a candidate, the candidates committee, or a political party engages in irresponsible campaigning.
If an identified third party wishes to sling some mud, there is
still no practical remedy against the source, but at least the voters can
evaluate the claim in light of its source.
Finally, in a candidate election, anonymous advertising permits a candidate to run on
an issue without espousing it. By tacit agreement or even without implicit
support from the candidate, the anonymous supporter can challenge an opponents position on
a given issue without putting the candidates position in play. Several pernicious
results occur. The candidate may not differ from the views that are
being attacked, but does not need to declare a position. Or the
candidate may have unspoken ties or obligations to groups whose agendas are well
known, but who choose to fund advertising on completely unrelated issues. Only
the disclosure of the identity of the funding agency prevents this.
For all of these reasons, we are not persuaded that Section 2.5 as
written violates the First Amendment on its face, though one can conceive of
some applications that might be invalid. As
McIntyre and Talley make clear, to
require identification of the source is to burden the core value of free
speech. But in a candidate election, there is a powerful countervailing consideration
in the States and the publics interest in election integrity. That interest
extends beyond controlling direct corruption to minimizing damage to the integrity of the
dynamic and multifaceted marketplace of ideas that drives a candidate election.
We think the 1997 amendment represented a very clear statement by the General
Assembly that it regarded campaign disclosure as important. As a matter of
separation of powers, we think setting that priority is well within the purview
of the legislative body as an expression of state policy. If we
construe the statute as the State suggests, we agree it removes most doubt
as to the constitutionality of the statute, but we think it also eliminates
most of what the statute was seeking to accomplish. In practice we
do not have candidates or committees taking out anonymous advertising. It may
be the deterrent effect of the law, but it also seems that anonymous
advertising by a candidate would be a very high-risk strategy. If a
message is such that the candidate would not be willing to be identified
with it, presumably if its authorship leaked the effect of the leak would
be to brand the candidate a sneak as well as a fool.
We think the statute is primarily concerned with anonymous advertising by third parties.
Limiting its identification to candidates and committees would free up the very actors
the law was written to curtail. State and federal courts have held
a variety of views on issues similar, if not identical, to the constitutional
claims presented here.
See footnote
We think the Indiana statute is clear and we
do not believe that current decisions of the Supreme Court of the United
States compel the conclusion that the statute as we construe it is invalid.
Accordingly, we answer the Seventh Circuits question as follows:
The term person in Indiana Code section 3-9-3-2.5(b) and (d) is not limited
to candidates, authorized political committees or subcommittees of candidates, and the agents of
such committees or subcommittees. Rather, it includes any individual or organization.
Finally, the plaintiffs invite us to invalidate the statute on Indiana Constitutional grounds,
in effect responding to the Seventh Circuit with never mind, the statute about
which you inquire is void. The plaintiffs note authority that an ambiguous
statute should be interpreted in such a manner as to preserve its constitutionality.
From this they draw the broader principle that the court should always
consider the constitutional implications of a statute and should invalidate a statute if
it finds it unconstitutional. This seems quite a stretch to us, but
we need not resolve that question because the plaintiffs contention is more easily
disposed of. No state constitutional issue was presented in the district court,
and we are not asked by the Seventh Circuit whether the statute runs
afoul of either the state or federal constitution. We have no record
of the facts of this case before us, and no basis to evaluate
whether other grounds may render consideration of the broad state constitutional issue unnecessary.
City of New Haven v. Reichhart, 748 N.E.2d 374, 378 (Ind. 2001).
Neither the state nor the amicus has addressed any state constitutional issue.
Under these circumstances, we will not reach out to answer a question
we are not asked.
DICKSON, SULLIVAN, and RUCKER, JJ., concur.
SHEPARD, C.J., concurs with separate opinion in which DICKSON, J., joins.
Appendix
Ind. Code § 3-9-3-2.5 (Supp. 2001).
(a) This section does not apply to any of the following:
(1) A communication relating to an election to a federal office.
(2) A communication relating to the outcome of a public question.
(3) A communication described by this section in a medium regulated by federal
law to the extent that federal law regulates the appearance, content, or placement
of the communication in the medium.
(4) Bumper stickers, pins, buttons, pens, and similar small items upon which the
disclaimer required by this section cannot be conveniently printed.
(5) Skywriting, water towers, wearing apparel, or other means of displaying an advertisement
on which the inclusion of a disclaimer would be impracticable.
(6) Checks, receipts, and similar items of minimal value that do not contain
a political message and are used for purely administrative purposes.
(7) A communication by a political action committee organized and controlled by a
corporation soliciting contributions to the political action committee by the stockholders, executives, or
employees of the corporation and the families of those individuals.
(8) A communication by a political action committee organized and controlled by a
labor organization soliciting contributions to the political action committee by the members or
executive personnel of the labor organization and the families of those individuals.
(9) A direct mailing of one hundred (100) or less substantially similar pieces
of mail.
(b) This section applies whenever a person:
(1) makes an expenditure for the purpose of financing communications expressly advocating the
election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate; or
(2) solicits a contribution; through a newspaper, a magazine, an outdoor advertising facility,
a poster, a yard sign, a direct mailing, or any other type of
general public political advertising.
(c) For purposes of this section, a candidate is clearly identified if any
of the following apply:
(1) The name of the candidate involved appears.
(2) A photograph or drawing of the candidate appears.
(3) The identity of the candidate is apparent by unambiguous reference.
(d) A communication described in subsection (b) must contain a disclaimer that appears
and is presented in a clear and conspicuous manner to give the reader
or observer adequate notice of the identity of persons who paid for and,
when required, who authorized the communication. A disclaimer does not comply with this
section if the disclaimer is difficult to read or if the placement of
the disclaimer is easily overlooked.
(e) A communication that would require a disclaimer if distributed separately must contain
the required disclaimer if included in a package of materials.
(f) This subsection does not apply to a communication, such as a billboard,
that contains only a front face. The disclaimer need not appear on the
front or cover page of the communication if the disclaimer appears within the
communication.
(g) Except as provided in subsection (h), a communication described in subsection
(b) must satisfy one (1) of the following:
(1) If the communication is paid for and authorized by:
(A) a candidate;
(B) an authorized political committee of a candidate; or
(C) the committee's agents;
the communication must clearly state that the communication has been paid for by
the authorized political committee.
(2) If the communication is paid for by other persons but authorized by:
(A) a candidate;
(B) an authorized political committee of a candidate; or
(C) the committee's agents;
the communication must clearly state that the communication is paid for by the
other persons and authorized by the authorized political committee.
(3) If the communication is not authorized by:
(A) a candidate;
(B) an authorized political committee of a candidate; or
(C) the committee's agents;
the communication must clearly state the name of the person who paid for
the communication and state that the communication is not authorized by any candidate
or candidate's committee.
(4) If the communication is a solicitation directed to the general public on
behalf of a political committee that is not a candidate's committee, the solicitation
must clearly state the full name of the person who paid for the
communication.
(h) A communication by a regular party committee consisting of:
(1) a printed slate card, a sample ballot, or other printed listing of
three (3) or more candidates for public office at an election;
(2) campaign materials such as handbills, brochures, posters, party tabloids or newsletters, and
yard signs distributed by volunteers and used by the regular party committee in
connection with volunteer activities on behalf of any nominee of the party; or
(3) materials distributed by volunteers as part of the regular party's voter registration
or get-out-the-vote efforts;
must clearly state the name of the person who paid for the communication
but is not required to state that the communication is authorized by any
candidate or committee.
SHEPARD, Chief Justice, concurring.
I join fully in the Courts opinion, and write separately to address a
point ably lifted up by the lawyers for Common Cause of Indiana and
the Brennan Center for Justice.
The device of certifying questions of state law that are central to a
case being litigated in federal court is productive for state and federal tribunals
alike. Knowing that our federal colleagues do not make these referrals casually,
we have accepted every certification from our District Courts and the Seventh Circuit,
as best I can recall. I expect that we will continue to
do so.
Still, the mechanism has its limitations. As amici point out, the questions
necessarily come in rather abstract form. We answer a question of law,
rather than resolve a case. And, of course, facts matter a great
deal in the work judges customarily perform.
Here, for example, the statute in question looks very different when one contemplates
a lone pamphleteer, some latter-day Thomas Paine, than it does as applied to
a regular party candidate.
This problem of abstraction is especially troublesome when the question at hand is,
say, one of state constitutional law, or, as today, a statutory question with
palpable constitutional implications. On such occasions, it seems to me, we state
judges must be especially mindful of the jurisprudential rules we would employ if
the full case were pending for resolution in state court like avoidance
of avoidable constitutional declarations.
We have brushed up against such considerations in the present case, but the
language and statutory framework of the law under examination have so strongly suggested
an answer that fancier footwork has been unnecessary.
DICKSON, J., joins.
Footnote:
Section 2.5 is rather lengthy. Because its constitutionality may be viewed
as turning on the extent to which it is narrowly tailored we reproduce
the statute in its entirety as an Appendix to this opinion.
Footnote:
For those unfamiliar with Indiana statutes, the hierarchy of the Indiana Code,
in descending order, is Title, Article, Chapter, Section.
Footnote:
Public Laws 5-1986 and its companions, 6-1986, 7-1986 and 8-1986 fill 315
pages of the 1986 Acts. 1986 Ind. Acts 25-340.
Footnote:
Public Law 6-1976 included the following definitions for purposes of the then
current election law: [P]erson includes individuals, business organizations, labor organizations, religious organizations,
political organizations, trustees, receivers and any other organization, association, cooperative or group of
persons whatsoever. 1976 Ind. Acts 13.
Footnote:
West Annotated Code uses the same title for this section as the
official Indiana Code, (Application of chapter). Burns Annotated Code calls it Applicability.
Footnote:
Subsection (b) excepted federal candidates from the limitation on the use of
contributions imposed by Section (4). Effective July 1, 2003, a new subsection
(c) was added to Indiana Code 3-9-3-1 providing that Section 2.5 does not
apply to candidates for precinct committeeman or state convention delegate. None of
these exceptions are relevant for our purposes.
Footnote:
All five Subsections (a) are identical except for the exceptions unique to
each provision. The only differences, which are irrelevant for these purposes, appear
in subsections (b) and (c) of the various Application sections. These have
the effect of exempting different types of elections (e.g. school boards) from certain
requirements, but not others. Compare I.C. § 3-9-3-1 with I.C. § 3-9-1-1,
I.C. § 3-9-2-1, I.C. § 3-9-4-1 and I.C. § 3-9-5-1.
Footnote:
I.C. § 3-9-5-14(3)(A).
Footnote:
I.C. § 3-9-1-19.
Footnote:
I.C. § 3-9-2-9.
Footnote:
Section2.5(a)(9) exempts mailings of up to 100 pieces of mail that are
substantially similar. We take mailing and mail to include any form of
delivery of any written material, including personal delivery or use of some service
other than use of the United States Postal Service. Reading the exemption
as limited to materials distributed through the U.S. mail would impose arbitrary and
indeed unconstitutional conditions on the exemption in violation of the basic equal protection
doctrines invoked by both parties.
Footnote:
Section 2.5(a)(2). The web site referred to by the Seventh Circuit
in Majors, 317 F.3d at 721,
(Revised May 2002), is incorrect
to the extent it suggests that all of the matters discussed apply equally
to both candidate and public question elections. Although many parts of the
Indiana Election Laws do apply to political question elections, Indiana Code section 3-9-3-2.5
does not by virtue of Section 2.5(a)(2).
Footnote:
424 U.S. 1 (1976).
Footnote:
Compare Cal. Pro-Life Council, Inc. v. Getman, 328 F.3d 1088, 1107
(9th Cir. 2003); FEC v. Public Citizen, 268 F.3d 1283, 1285 (11th Cir.
2001); Ky. Right to Life v. Terry, 108 F.3d 637, 648 (6th Cir.
1997); FEC v. Survival Educ. Fund, Inc., 65 F.3d 285, 298 (2d. Cir.
1995); McConnell v. FEC, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7816 at *182 (D.D.C. May
1, 2003); Seymour v. Election Enforcement Commn, 762 A.2d 880, 892-94 (Conn. 2000);
Doe v. Mortham, 708 So. 2d 929, 931-35 (Fla. 1998); with Citizens for
Responsible Govt State PAC v. Davidson, 236 F.3d 1174, 2000 (10th Cir. 2000);
Vt. Right to Life Comm., Inc. v. Sorrell, 221 F.3d 376, 392 (2d
Cir. 2000); Wilson v. Stocker, 819 F.2d 943, 950 (10th Cir. 1987); N.C.
Right to Life, Inc. v. Leake, 108 F. Supp. 2d 498, 510 (E.D.
N.C. 2000); Ark. Right to Life State PAC v. Butler, 29 F. Supp.
2d 540, 550 (W.D. Ark. 1998); Stewart, 953 F. Supp. at 1055; W.
Va. for Life, Inc. v. Smith, 960 F. Supp. 1036, 1042 (S.D. W.
Va. 1996); Doe v. Texas, 2003 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 88 at *14
(Tex. Crim. App. May 14, 2003).