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On Friday, a judge for the Northern District of Illinois denied Illinois Liberty PAC’s motion for a preliminary injunction against Illinois’ campaign donation limits in ILP v. Madigan. The court issued a 22-page opinion (.pdf download) along with the order denying the injunction.

The campaign donation laws in question set contribution limits to individual candidates from individuals, political action committees, and/or corporations, labor unions or other associations. Contributions to candidates in the general election from political parties are not limited under the statute, whereas contributions to candidates in the primary election from political parties are. However, the laws limit contributions to political parties from individuals, political action committees, and/or corporations, labor unions or other associations.  The plaintiffs in the case, Illinois Liberty PAC and an individual donor, challenge only the limits on PAC contributions and individual contributions. They had moved for a preliminary injunction to suspend the donation limits, pending the outcome of the case, given how close the election is.

The court concluded its analysis of the issues at stake in the case and argued in the motion for preliminary injunction, saying  “[p]laintiffs’ negligible likelihood of success [on the merits] is reason enough to deny their preliminary injunction motion.” The court then noted (emphasis and hyperlinks are added):

If a preliminary injunction were granted, then there would be no contribution limits for individuals and PACS in the weeks leading up to the 2012 Illinois state elections. This would create a manifest possibility of actual or apparent corruption, an irreparable harm to Illinois, its citizens, and the public interest. That harm far outweighs any irreparable harm that the challenged provisions might impose upon individuals and PACs, who may contribute up to $5,000 or $50,00, respectively, to any given candidate, and who may make their voices heard by devoting unlimited sums to their own independent expenditures or by contributing unlimited sums to independent expenditure committees or to PACs that make only independent expenditures.

At Chicago Appleseed, we believe the motion was rightly decided. It is necessary to mediate the effect of money in electoral politics—donation limits are a common tool for balancing the influence of donors.

Thanks, again, to the Campaign Legal Center, David Melton and Thomas Rosenwein for their excellent amicus brief.