This Fair Courts E-Lert highlights the U.S. Supreme Court’s consideration of cases challenging California’s Donor Disclosure Law, the Kansas Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit against the state legislature over court funding, and more.
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[FAIR COURTS]
FEDERAL COURTS
U.S. Supreme Court Considering Challenges to California Donor Disclosure Law
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether it will take up two challenges to a California law “aimed at preventing fraud among charitable organizations,” according to The New Republic ([link removed]).
The cases, Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Becerra ([link removed]) and Thomas More Law Center v. Becerra ([link removed]), claim the state’s requirement that tax-exempt groups identify their top donors to the California Attorney General every year violates donors’ First Amendment rights.
Amicus briefs have been filed by several organizations, including groups associated with the Koch brothers, in both cases. As reported by Bloomberg ([link removed]), “California urged the justices not to disturb the lower court ruling. It noted that while ‘confidentiality lapses had occurred in the past,’ the state has ‘had addressed those problems.’”
For the past 20 years, the Brennan Center and the National Institute for Money in Politics have tracked ([link removed]) outside spending in judicial elections through The Politics of Judicial Elections series. During the 2015-16 cycle ([link removed]), the Brennan Center found that 82 percent of spending in state supreme court elections was by groups whose funding sources were concealed from the public.
A decision by the justices not to hear the two cases would leave in place the law, which was upheld ([link removed]) by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit last year.
STATE COURTS
Kansas Supreme Court Dismisses Lawsuit Over Court Funding
On January 22, the Kansas Supreme Court dismissed ([link removed]) a lawsuit brought by several trial court judges and one employee of the state’s judicial branch against the state legislature over funding for the state’s court system.
According to the Associated Press ([link removed]), “[t]he lawsuit was filed directly with the Supreme Court and alleged state lawmakers have chronically underfinanced the judicial branch. It asked the court to force legislators to consider funding ‘independent of unrelated political agendas.’” “It came after a ruling from the Supreme Court last year protecting abortion rights, years of legal battles over funding for the state's public schools and multiple rulings forcing lawmakers to boost education funding.”
In its five-page decision dismissing the case, the Kansas Supreme Court said that allowing the lawsuit to proceed “would necessarily impede crucial inter-branch discussions aimed at allowing the Legislature to fulfill its constitutional obligation to fund the judicial branch.” “We are confident at this juncture that the matters Petitioners raise are better handled through inter-branch cooperation,” the court concluded.
West Virginia Legislature Considering Change to the State’s Supreme Court Elections
The West Virginia House of Delegates is considering a bill that would change how the state elects state supreme court justices.
The bill, HB 2008 ([link removed]), would “require at least one Supreme Court candidate to receive at least 40 percent of the vote in the nonpartisan contest. If that does not happen, the top two candidates will face off in a runoff election,” according to MetroNews ([link removed]).
The bill’s lead sponsor, Delegate Daryl Cowles (R- Morgan), stated ([link removed]) that, “[t]he genesis of the bill is to make sure that our choice for the Supreme Court of Appeals is someone that enjoys public support and is a legitimate representative of the people.”
HB 2008 was approved by the House Judiciary Committee on January 9 with an amendment that would make the 40 percent threshold applicable to this year’s election.
Alaska Supreme Court Justice Craig Stowers Announces Retirement
Earlier this month, Justice Craig Stowers announced ([link removed]) his plan to retire from the Alaska Supreme Court on June 1. Stowers served on the court since 2009, most recently as Chief Justice from 2015-2018.
The Alaska Judicial Council released a statement ([link removed]) calling for applications by February 14 and is expected to meet ([link removed]) in May to review the applications. The Judicial Council will then submit its recommendations to Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who will have forty-five days to fill Stowers’ vacancy.
According to a recent Brennan Center report, State Supreme Court Diversity ([link removed]), Alaska was one of 24 states with an all-white supreme court bench as of May 2019, despite the fact that people of color make up nearly 40 percent of the state’s population. Alaska is also one of the 13 states that have never seated a person of color as justice since at least 1960.
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The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law is a nonpartisan law and policy institute that works to reform, revitalize – and when necessary defend – our country’s systems of democracy and justice.
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