For Immediate Release

Date: January 21, 2025

Media Contact:

Tom Garrett (Chief Communications Officer - Institute for Free Speech)

Challenge to New Maine Campaign Finance Law Advances with Motion for Permanent Injunction

Latest filing argues Question 1's limits “strike at the heart of the First Amendment”

Portland, ME (January 21, 2025) — The Institute for Free Speech and local counsel Joshua D. Dunlap of Pierce Atwood LLP have filed a permanent injunction motion in furtherance of their lawsuit challenging Maine's new restrictions on contributions to independent expenditure groups.

Question 1, passed by voters in November of last year, imposes a $5,000 limit on contributions to groups like plaintiffs Dinner Table Action and For Our Future, two Maine political action committees (PACs). The measure directly contradicts established U.S. Supreme Court precedent, as well as numerous subsequent decisions by multiple federal courts of appeal.

The new injunction motion, filed on January 17th in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine, argues that Question 1's $5,000 limit on contributions to independent expenditure political action committees (PACs) violates First Amendment speech and association rights.

“Question 1 strikes at the heart of the First Amendment by severely limiting political speech,” explained Institute for Free Speech Senior Attorney Charles “Chip” Miller, echoing the motion. “Every federal appeals court to consider similar restrictions has found them unconstitutional. There is no legitimate government interest in limiting contributions to groups that make only independent expenditures.”

“Because, by definition, independent expenditures are not coordinated with a candidate, there is no risk of quid pro quo corruption to justify any restriction on contributions for the purpose of making independent expenditures,” explains the motion. The motion also contends that the law violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection guarantees by imposing restrictions on PACs that don't apply to political party committees.

The case, Dinner Table Action, et al. v. Schneider, et al., challenges Question 1's contribution limits and disclosure requirements. Maine has already agreed not to enforce the law through May 2025 while the litigation proceeds.

Read the motion for permanent injunction and accompanying memorandum of law here. Read more about the case and review all related documents, please visit our case page here.

The Institute for Free Speech promotes and defends the political speech rights to freely speak, assemble, publish, and petition the government guaranteed by the First Amendment.

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