Anthony Johnstone | University of Montana (original) (raw)

Papers by Anthony Johnstone

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

ABSTRACT

This article considers how much outside influence matters to the constitutional analysis of state... more This article considers how much outside influence matters to the constitutional analysis of state politics. It defends the political community principle applied in Bluman v. Federal Election Comm'n as an exception to the otherwise universal speaker-neutrality rule of Citizens United v. Federal Election Comm'n. It draws parallels between efforts to police national and state boundaries in politics, and the competing rights claims of outsiders to cross those boundaries and participate fully in domestic politics. The article suggests that the structural constitutional principle of political community supports certain state regulations of outside influence across a range of political activities. Part I reviews the structural and historical basis for the constitutional concern about outside influence. Part II considers the gnarled doctrinal roots of Bluman, and how they might help support state, as well as national, safeguards against outside influence. Part III proposes an important state interest in regulating, but not excluding, outside influence in state and local politics, and suggests some applications of the principle to outside influence in several spheres of political activity.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

ABSTRACT

This article considers how much outside influence matters to the constitutional analysis of state... more This article considers how much outside influence matters to the constitutional analysis of state politics. It defends the political community principle applied in Bluman v. Federal Election Comm'n as an exception to the otherwise universal speaker-neutrality rule of Citizens United v. Federal Election Comm'n. It draws parallels between efforts to police national and state boundaries in politics, and the competing rights claims of outsiders to cross those boundaries and participate fully in domestic politics. The article suggests that the structural constitutional principle of political community supports certain state regulations of outside influence across a range of political activities. Part I reviews the structural and historical basis for the constitutional concern about outside influence. Part II considers the gnarled doctrinal roots of Bluman, and how they might help support state, as well as national, safeguards against outside influence. Part III proposes an important state interest in regulating, but not excluding, outside influence in state and local politics, and suggests some applications of the principle to outside influence in several spheres of political activity.