A little-known court battle in Alaska could be the next big money-in-politics controversy. Thompson v. Hebdon concerns the state’s campaign finance laws, which are some of the most stringent and progressive in the country. One of Alaska’s most contentious provisions caps the amount of money that state-level candidates can receive from out-of-state donors and is now part of a lawsuit that will soon go before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after a lower court upheld the restrictions.
The challenger to the law is David Thompson, who in 2015 donated $100 to support the re-election of his brother-in-law, former Republican Alaska state Rep. Wes Keller. Thompson lives in Wisconsin, and Keller had already reached the limit for out-of-state contributions, so the campaign had to return the money. Thompson’s lawyers are aping the arguments in Citizens United, contending that this limit on campaign contributions is an unconstitutional regulation of free speech.
