Home > Smith v. Helzer
Alaska’s election laws unconstitutionally force groups that speak out about elections to deliver state-mandated messages and violate their donors’ privacy.
The law forces independent groups that want to speak out about a state election to, among other things:
The law also forces people who give to these groups to redundantly report their own donations to the state.
Under the First Amendment, groups that want to speak out about politics should be free to say what they want—not forced to say what the government wants them to say. And people who support such groups shouldn’t have to give up their privacy or face other government-imposed burdens. The Liberty Justice Center has therefore filed a federal lawsuit challenging these Alaska laws.
LJC’s clients in the case include Alaska citizens such as Anchorage resident Doug Smith, and two citizen advocacy organizations, the Alaska Free Market Coalition and Families for the Last Frontier.
The Liberty Justice Center has challenged similar violations of free speech in donor privacy in Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, and South Dakota.
Reilly Stephens is a Counsel at Liberty Justice Center where he assists in cases to protect the rights to free speech, economic liberty, private property, and other Constitutional rights in courts across the country.
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