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The Goldwater Institute announced today that the U.S. Court of Appeals will review the decision of a lower court that put an end to matching funds for political candidates who run under Arizona’s publicly funded elections system.
If you’re unfamiliar with matching funds, or Arizona’s Clean Elections Act, click here for “the dirty truth.”
In January, U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver ruled that the use of matching funds for candidates was unconstitutional because it violated the First Amendment rights of candidates who don’t use public funds to run and rely on private donations to fund their campaigns.
In her decision, Silver agreed with the Goldwater Institute that the matching-funds section of the state’s Clean Elections Act discourages privately funded candidates from raising money because if their opponents are running under the public system, they are given additional funds.
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Silver’s ruling was put on hold until the Ninth Circuit could review the decision, which it is scheduled to do on Monday morning.
We called the Goldwater Institute to see if it had any predictions before arguing the case on Monday, but a representative hasn’t gotten back to us.
