No. 18-5261

444444444444444444444444

In the

United States Court of Appeals

for the District of Columbia Circuit

________________

CROSSROADS GRASSROOTS POLICY STRATEGIES,

Defendant-Appellant,

v. 

CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICS IN WASHINGTON, ET AL.,

Plaintiffs-Appellees,

________________

On Appeal from the

United States District Court for

the District of Columbia

_______________

Brief Amicus Curiae of Free Speech Coalition, Free Speech Defense and

Education Fund, Citizens United, Citizens United Foundation,

DownsizeDC.org, Downsize DC Foundation, National Right to Work

Committee, U.S. Constitutional Rights Legal Defense Fund, Gun Owners of

America, Inc., Gun Owners Foundation, Public Advocate of the United

States, Policy Analysis Center, Conservative Legal Defense and Education

Fund, and The Senior Citizens League in Support of Defendant-Appellant

and Reversal

________________

J. MARK BREWER HERBERT W. TITUS*

Houston, TX 77056 JEREMIAH L. MORGAN

WILLIAM J. OLSON

JAMES N. CLYMER ROBERT J. OLSON

Lancaster, PA 17603 WILLIAM J. OLSON, P.C.

370 Maple Avenue W., Suite 4

Co-counsel for Amicus Curiae Vienna, Virginia 22180-5615

CLDEF (703) 356-5070

Counsel for Amici Curiae

March 18, 2019 *Attorney of Record

444444444444444444444444

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CERTIFICATE AS TO

PARTIES, RULINGS, AND RELATED CASES

Parties and Amici

Except for the following, all parties, intervenors, and amici curiae

appearing before the district court below and this Court are listed in the Briefs

for the parties: amici curiae Free Speech Coalition, Free Speech Defense and

Education Fund, Citizens United, Citizens United Foundation, DownsizeDC.org,

Downsize DC Foundation, National Right to Work Committee, U.S.

Constitutional Rights Legal Defense Fund, Gun Owners of America, Inc., Gun

Owners Foundation, Public Advocate of the United States, Policy Analysis

Center, Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund, and The Senior

Citizens League.

Ruling under Review

References to the ruling at issue appear in the Appellant’s Brief.

Related Cases

Counsel adopt and incorporate by reference parties’ statements with

respect to related cases.

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CORPORATE DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

The amici curiae herein, Free Speech Coalition, Free Speech Defense and

Education Fund, Citizens United, Citizens United Foundation, DownsizeDC.org,

Downsize DC Foundation, National Right to Work Committee, U.S.

Constitutional Rights Legal Defense Fund, Gun Owners of America, Inc., Gun

Owners Foundation, Public Advocate of the United States, Policy Analysis

Center, Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund, and The Senior

Citizens League, through their undersigned counsel, submit this Corporate

Disclosure Statement pursuant to Rules 26.1(b) and 29(c) of the Federal Rules of

Appellate Procedure, and Rule 26.1 of the Rules of the United States Court of

Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. 

These amici curiae are non-stock, nonprofit corporations, none of which

has any parent company, and no person or entity owns them or any part of them. 

These amici curiae are represented herein by Herbert W. Titus, counsel of

record, Jeremiah L. Morgan, William J. Olson, and Robert J. Olson, of William

J. Olson, P.C., 370 Maple Avenue West, Suite 4, Vienna, Virginia 22180-5615. 

J. Mark Brewer, of Brewer, Pritchard & Buckley, P.C., 770 South Post Oak

Lane, Houston, Texas 77056, and James N. Clymer, of Clymer Bodene, P.C.,

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408 West Chestnut St., Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17603, are co-counsel for

amicus curiae Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund. 

 /s/ Herbert W. Titus 

Herbert W. Titus

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Certificate as to Parties, Rulings, and Related Cases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i

Corporate Disclosure Statement.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii

Table of Authorities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

Glossary of Abbreviations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii

Interest of Amici Curiae.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Statement of the Case. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

ARGUMENT

I. THE FEC’S REGULATION SHOULD NOT BE VACATED. . . . . . . 3

A. Chevron Deference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

B. The Statutory Language Supports the Regulation.. . . . . . . . . . . 4

C. Changes to FECA by Court Decisions Provide Further Reason to

Uphold the Regulation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

II. THE COURT BELOW BASED ITS DECISION ON A 

TENDENTIOUS AND CONFUSED FIRST AMENDMENT

FRAMEWORK, THEREBY UNDERMINING THE CREDIBILITY 

OF ITS STATUTORY ANALY.S.I.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

A. A Conflict Between Two “Values”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

B. A Forced Disclosure Mandate.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

C. The CREW Disclosure Mandate Threatens First Amendment

Principles.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

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III. IN A CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC, THE PEOPLE MUST 

BE FREE TO CRITICIZE THE GOVERNMENT AND TRY TO 

OUST INCUMBENT POLITICIANS FROM OFFICE WITHOUT 

THE THREAT OF RETALIATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

A. Campaign Finance Laws Are Bad Enough When Written by

Incumbents for Incumbents, but Should Never Be Re-written 

by Judges Selected by Incumbents to Protect Incumbents. . . . . . 19

B. The Framers Embraced and Practiced Anonymity in Politics. . . . 24

CONCLUSION.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES

Page

CONSTITUTION

*Amendment I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 10, 13, 16

STATUTES

26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(4).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

*52 U.S.C. § 30104. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 4, 5, 6, 9

CASES

Brown v. Socialist Workers ‘74 Campaign Comm. (Ohio), 

459 US. 87 (1982). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10, 11, 12, 13, 17

Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 

467 U.S. 837 (1984).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 4, 8, 9

Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310 (2010). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8, 14, 15

*McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, 514 U.S. 334 (1995).. . . . 15, 16, 17

*Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo, 418 U.S. 241 (1974). . . . . . 17, 18

Pereira v. Sessions, 138 S.Ct. 2105 (2018). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Talley v. California, 362 U.S. 60 (1960).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

MISCELLANEOUS

11 C.F.R. § 109.10(e)(1)(vi). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

An Englishman (Thomas Paine), Common Sense. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

* M.D. Bellis, “Statutory Structure and Legislative Drafting Conventions: 

A Primer for Judges,” Federal Judicial Center (2008). . . . . . . . . . . 5, 6

* George W. Carey & James McClellan, edts., The Federalist 

(Liberty Fund: 2001). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

A. Gluck & R. Posner, Statutory Interpretation on the Bench: A Survey of

Forty-Two Judges on the Federal Courts of Appeals, 131 HARV. L.

REV. 1298 (Mar. 2018).. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Charles Hyuneman & Donald S. Lutz, American Political Writing During

the Founding Era 1760-1805 (Liberty Press: 1983). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Ronald Hamowy, edt. Cato’s Letters, (Liberty Fund: 1995).. . . . . . . . . . . . 26

J. Miller, Monopoly Politics (Hooever Inst. Press: 1999). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

* Authorities upon which we chiefly rely are marked with asterisks.

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“Reelection Rates Over the Years,” OpenSecrets.org.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

United Parcel Service v. Postal Regulatory Commission, Supreme Court 

No. 18-853.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

* Authorities upon which we chiefly rely are marked with asterisks.

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GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATIONS

CREW Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

Crossroads Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies 

FEC Federal Election Commission 

IE Independent Expenditure

IRC Internal Revenue Code

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INTEREST OF AMICI CURIAE

1

The amici curiae are nonprofit organizations, exempt from federal taxation

under sections 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. Free Speech

Coalition and Free Speech Defense and Education Fund are associations of

nonprofit organizations engaged in the public policy process and for-profit firms

who assist those nonprofit organizations in the exercise of constitutional rights by

nonprofit organizations. Each amici is dedicated, inter alia, to the correct

construction, interpretation, and application of the law. 

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

This case began as a complaint filed by Appellee Citizens for

Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (“CREW”) with Appellee Federal

Election Commission (“FEC”) against Appellant Crossroads Grassroots Policy

Strategies (“Crossroads”) for failure to disclose the identity of donors not

required to be identified under law. However, this case has morphed to the point

that the district court invalidated an FEC regulation that had been in place for 37

years.

1 All parties have consented to the filing of this brief amicus curiae. No

party’s counsel authored the brief in whole or in part. No party or party’s

counsel contributed money that was intended to fund preparing or submitting the

brief. No person other than these amici curiae, their members or their counsel

contributed money that was intended to fund preparing or submitting this brief.

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Under that FEC regulation, if a corporation that is not a political

committee makes an independent expenditure — uncoordinated express advocacy

for or against a federal candidate — over $250, it is required to file an FEC

Form 5, which reports information about the independent expenditure, and also

requires information about certain donors who gave to the organization for the

purpose of supporting that specific independent expenditure.

The district court vacated part of an FEC longstanding regulation, ruling

that the statute requires information about donors if they made donations to a

program which included independent expenditure’s even without any

understanding that the funds be used on any particular independent expenditure. 

What this decision could mean is unclear, and now nonprofit organizations that

make an independent expenditure run the risk of violating an uncertain reporting

requirement, or over-reporting confidential donor information out of an

abundance of caution for fear of how a donation solicitation might be read, or

they might choose to cease engaging in any independent expenditures

whatsoever.

Therefore, this amicus brief focuses on whether 11 C.F.R.

§ 109.10(e)(1)(vi) is an appropriate interpretation of 52 U.S.C. § 30104(c).

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ARGUMENT

I. THE FEC’S REGULATION SHOULD NOT BE VACATED.

A. Chevron Deference

Despite criticism from academics, practitioners, and jurists, the Chevron2

Doctrine remains entrenched in this Circuit even more so than in others.3 For

example, Justice Kennedy recently observed that “it seems necessary and

appropriate to reconsider, in an appropriate case, the premises that underlie

Chevron and how courts have implemented that decision.”4Indeed, there is at

least one petition for certiorari pending before the U.S. Supreme Court asking

that Court to reconsider Chevron altogether.

5

Nevertheless, at the moment, Chevron continues to provide the controlling

structure for reviewing many agency regulations. This Court may consider it

2 Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467

U.S. 837 (1984).

3

See A. Gluck & R. Posner, Statutory Interpretation on the Bench: A

Survey of Forty-Two Judges on the Federal Courts of Appeals, 131 HARV. L.

REV. 1298, 1312, 1348-50 (Mar. 2018).

4 Pereira v. Sessions, 138 S.Ct. 2105, 2121 (2018) (Kennedy, J.,

concurring).

5

See United Parcel Service v. Postal Regulatory Commission, Supreme

Court No. 18-853.

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beyond its power to reject that analytical doctrine, and thus Appellant was

correct to argue from that doctrine. Nevertheless, the district court’s decision

demonstrated that whoever performs the analysis of a statute, the wrong result

can be reached. If courts use Chevron simply to defer to agency interpretations,

they have failed in their duty to say what the law is. On the other hand, if a

court so desires, it can say it is applying Chevron while actually pursuing its own

policy goal, as the lower court did here. In any event, the statute at issue in this

case is unambiguous, and contrary to the district court’s conclusion, the

regulation is not inconsistent with it.

B. The Statutory Language Supports the Regulation.

The district court’s decision to vacate the regulation at issue in this case

was predicated on its view that 52 U.S.C. § 30104(c) contains separate reporting

requirements in paragraph (1) and paragraph (2) of subsection (c). This

threshold mistake tainted everything that followed. Although the district court

complained that the FEC’s regulation “falls short in two distinct ways,” if the

court had not split the reporting requirements of (1) and (2), it could not have

concluded that subsection (c)(2) requires broader donor reporting than what the

regulation required.

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The district court claimed that it was applying traditional methods of

statutory interpretation,6

but it erred when it concluded that (c) contains two

separate reporting requirements. As Appellant explained, subsection (c) is

structured with one filing requirement: “FECA (c)(2) then logically provides the

contents of what such reports filed pursuant to FECA (c)(1) must contain.” 

Appellant’s Brief at 38. This view is supported by the plain reading of

subsection (c), but the following analysis even more clearly confirms this view.

Subsection (c)(2) states that “Statements required to be filed by this

subsection ... shall include....” (Emphasis added.) If the reference to “this

subsection” means paragraph (2), then the district court could have been correct

that it contains a different reporting requirement than paragraph (1). However, if

the reference to “this subsection” is to subsection (c), then it includes both

paragraphs and there is no way the district court can be correct.

Federal statutes are generally structured with sections being the main

division point. For example, this case involves section 30104 of Title 52. Below

that point, sections are generally divided into subsections which are marked by

lower case letters — (a), (b), (c), etc. See M.D. Bellis, “Statutory Structure and

6

See CREW v. FEC, 316 F. Supp. 3d 349, 391 (D.D.C. 2018) (where

the district court purported to apply “one of the most basic interpretive canons”).

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Legislative Drafting Conventions: A Primer for Judges,” Federal Judicial Center

(2008) at 8. Below that level, “subsections divide into paragraphs. Paragraphs

may have subparagraphs....” Id. at 9. Subparagraphs can be divided into

clauses and subclauses. See id. 

The district court’s lack of precision on the nomenclature of statutory

structure is evident throughout its opinion. First, it never considered whether

“this subsection” actually was referring to in subsection (c)(2). Second, the

district court incorrectly noted that “§ 30104(c) only has a general heading with

no subsection headings at all.” CREW at 396. Clearly (c) itself is a subsection,

and the district court meant to say that (c) had no paragraph headings.

Thus, the reference in (c)(2) to reports “required to be filed by this

subsection,” refers to subsection (c), not to paragraph (2). Only one report —

not two different reports — is required by subsection (c). This analysis supports

appellant’s argument that (c)(1) is the general requirement of the report, and

(c)(2) is a specification of the contents of the report required by (c)(1). See

Appellant’s Brief at 38-39.

Further, subsection (c)(3) requires the FEC to prepare and publish indices

of independent expenditures that are made and reported to the FEC. Applying

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the district court’s reading of subsection (c), paragraph (3) too could be said to

contain a third and separate reporting requirement for independent expenditures

because it mentions the information “as reported under this subsection.” 

However, only by reading paragraph (3) as referring to a single reporting

requirement under subsection (c) does paragraph (3) make sense. 

Lastly, the requirement that the FEC prepare the indices “on a candidateby-candidate basis” only makes sense when understood if the reporting

requirement is one which includes information for donors who have earmarked

their donation to support a particular independent expenditure. The district

court’s ruling presumably would require that the names of donors who donate to

a non-political committee if the solicitation even generally mentions the

organization doing independent expenditures among many types of activities. If

so, then the FEC’s statutory duty to publicly report on a candidate-by-candidate

basis would be made impossible to fulfill.

C. Changes to FECA by Court Decisions Provide Further Reason to

Uphold the Regulation.

Appellant correctly points out that the regulation at issue in this case had

been in effect since 1980 and was in effect until the district court struck it down

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last year. See Appellant’s Brief at 8. Yet the legal environment has changed

with the Citizens United decision, as Appellant pointed out: 

The district court also attempted to establish congressional clarity

under Chevron step one by subordinating the clear legislative history

to policy arguments articulated (anachronistically) after Citizens

United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310 (2010). But such post-promulgation

developments do not bear on whether the FEC correctly interpreted

the statute in 1980, particularly since most of the spending today is

by groups that were unable to make independent expenditures in

1980. [Appellant’s Brief at 42 n.13 (emphasis added).]

Indeed, before the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United, all forprofit corporations and most nonprofit corporations were prohibited from making

independent expenditures. As explained in Citizens United, “First Amendment

standards ... ‘must give the benefit of any doubt to protecting rather than stifling

speech.’” Citizens United at 327.

Here, the district court concluded that the statute was resolved at Chevron

step one, which requires the court to determine that “Congress has directly

addressed the precise question at issue.” See CREW at 386. However, when

the statute under consideration here was enacted, nonprofit corporations were

banned from making independent expenditures from their general corporate

treasury funds. 

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This means that most of the reporting covered by § 30104(c) and affected

by the district court’s ruling was not even contemplated by Congress because

those types of independent expenditures by nonprofit corporations were

prohibited which receive contributions from donors. Thus, this case does not fit

cleanly within the framework of Chevron because Congress cannot be said to

have spoken to the issue of nonprofit corporation reporting of independent

expenditures.

II. THE COURT BELOW BASED ITS DECISION ON A

TENDENTIOUS AND CONFUSED FIRST AMENDMENT

FRAMEWORK, THEREBY UNDERMINING THE CREDIBILITY

OF ITS STATUTORY ANALYSIS.

A. A Conflict Between Two “Values.”

Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell viewed the case before her as a contest

between two “values.” CREW at 355. On the one side was “the protection of

speech [a] fundamental value safeguarded under the First Amendment.” Id.

Against that constitutional “value” she pitted the “value of disclosure.” Id. 

Like Goliath of old, the chief judge tailored her decision to ensure that the

giant — the “value of disclosure” — was fully armed to:

• “enabl[e] the electorate to make informed decisions about

candidates”;

• “evaluate political messaging”;

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• “deter actual, or the appearance of, corruption”; and 

• “aid in enforcement of the ban on foreign contributions, which may

result in undue influence on American politicians.” [Id.] 

In contrast, the David in this battle — the lesser “First Amendment value”

— was denied even his sling, the chief judge having dismissed any and all First

Amendment objections to government-compelled disclosure as being “‘the least

restrictive means of curbing the evils of campaign ignorance and corruption.’”

Id., quoting Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 68 (1976). 

The chief judge’s analysis was both simplistic and erroneous. The Buckley

Court never laid down such an across-the-board demand for forced donor

disclosures, having acknowledged that First Amendment concerns that arose out

of the:

• “public disclosure of contributions to candidates and political parties

[which] will deter some individuals who otherwise might

contribute;” and 

• “disclosure may even expose contributors to harassment or

retaliation.” and, thus, “compelled disclosure ... cannot be justified

by a mere showing of some legitimate governmental interests.” 

[Buckley at 64 and 68.]

Thus, for example, in Buckley, the Court did not summarily dismiss the First

Amendment claim that, as applied to minor party and independent candidates, the

forced disclosure and reporting requirement could, in some case, be

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unconstitutionally burdensome, even given the strong governmental interests in

protecting against government corruption and enlightening the electorate. In

other words, the judicial task after Buckley was one of balancing, weighing on

the one hand the government’s interests in electoral integrity and transparency,

and on the other hand, the free flow of information in the marketplace of ideas.

B. A Forced Disclosure Mandate. 

To achieve her desired result, the chief judge asserted that Congress’s

“mandated disclosures” remained under Buckley a foursquare effort “(i) to

achieve total disclosure (ii) by reaching every kind of political activity (iii) in

order to insure that the voters are fully informed and (iv) to achieve through

publicity the maximum deterrence to corruption and undue influence possible.” 

CREW at 356 (internal quotations omitted) (emphasis added). The chief judge

prejudged the case, having obviously designed a larger framework within which

to interpret the statutes and regulations at issue. “This case,” she wrote,

“concerns the requisite disclosures about contributors that organizations making

independent expenditures, in support of or opposition to particular candidates for

federal office, must make, when those organizations are not political committees

controlled by, or operating in coordination with, candidates or national political

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parties.” Id. (emphasis added). If subjected to analysis within the framework of

the “total disclosure” and “fully informed” Buckley standard, as stated by the

chief judge, then only the CREW view is permissible because only the CREW

view requires maximum disclosure of donors to a not-political committee. In

contrast, the FEC and Crossroads view would not measure up to the “total

disclosure” standard because the FEC view does not require disclosure unless the

donor earmarked his donation as one for an independent expenditure to support

or oppose a candidate for federal office. 

Additionally, the chief judge tossed into the mix the danger of “foreign

influence over U.S. elections,” such that “Congress has heard the warning that

‘holes in the campaign finance disclosure rules allow dark money organizations

to spend on politics without revealing their donors, potentially hiding foreign

sources of funds.’” Id. at 356. To illustrate why this is so, the chief judge

opined that “an important aspect of this statutory disclosure regime is to further

‘the government’s interest ... in preventing foreign influence over U.S.

elections.’” Id. at 356 (emphasis added). That goal would not be possible unless

the CREW view of the disclosure mandate is adopted and enforced by the FEC.

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C. The CREW Disclosure Mandate Threatens First Amendment

Principles. 

Although the chief judge acknowledged in the opening paragraph of her

opinion that this case implicates the “protection of speech [as] a fundamental

value safeguarded under the First Amendment,” she virtually ignores any of

those safeguards. CREW at 355. Instead, she offers in support of the

constitutionality of the CREW “statutorily mandated disclosures” the quotation

from Buckley, that it is constitutionally permissible for Congress to “achieve

‘total disclosure’ by reaching ‘every kind of political activity’ in order to insure

that the voters are fully informed and to achieve through publicity the maximum

deterrence to corruption and undue influence possible.” CREW at 356. The

chief judge’s offer should not be accepted by this Court.

First, as for “total disclosure,” even the Buckley Court conceded that

disclosure could not be applied to minor parties or independent candidates if they

make a credible showing of “threats, harassment, or reprisals from either

Government officials or private parties.” Buckley at 74. Indeed, six years after

Buckley, the Supreme Court found Ohio disclosure requirements unconstitutional

as applied to a minor party which had historically been subjected to harassment

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by both the government and private parties. See Brown v. Socialist Workers ‘74

Campaign Comm. (Ohio), 459 US. 87, 88 (1982). 

Since Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310 (2010), nonprofit

corporations have been free to use treasury funds to pay for independent

expenditures expressly advocating for or against the election of a candidate. 

Dissenting from the Citizens United majority decision, which upheld the

disclosure requirements imposed on nonprofit organizations that engage in

independent expenditures, Justice Thomas warned that “upholding [the disclosure

requirements] will ultimately prove as misguided....” Id. at 480. Reciting

examples of retaliation against supporters of California’s Proposition 8, Justice

Thomas noted that “[m]any supporters (or their customers) suffered property

damage, or threats of physical violence or death, as a result” of the required

disclosure, and the use of such information by opponents of Proposition 8. Id. at

481. Thus, he asserted, it is a “fallacy ... that ‘[d]isclaimer and disclosure

requirements ... impose no ceiling on campaign-related activities.’” Id. at 483. 

“Now more than ever, [disclosure requirements] will chill protected speech

because — as California voters can attest — ‘the advent of the Internet’ enables

‘prompt disclosure of expenditures,’ which ‘provide[s]’ political opponents ‘with

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the information needed’ to intimidate and retaliate against their foes.’” Id. at

484. He concluded quite aptly “I cannot endorse a view of the First Amendment

that subjects citizens of this Nation to death threats, ruined careers, damaged or

defaced property, or pre-emptive and threatening warning letters as the price for

engaging in ‘core political speech, the “primary object of First Amendment

protection.”’” Id. at 485.

That was 2010. The risk faced by those who participate in the political

arena has not improved. If anything, the political climate is worsened. The

Internet is the battleground, and information is the ammunition. The battle lines

are drawn and maintained by tribalism and guilt by association. The Chief

Judge’s high-sounding rhetoric of “total disclosure” disregards the real threat of

forced disclosure of organizations like Crossroads and its donors.

Second, as for “reaching every kind of political activity,” the Supreme

Court has already foreclosed the position of the chief judge, having distinguished

laws banning the distribution of anonymous political campaign literature from

laws “mandating disclosure of campaign-related expenditures.” See McIntyre v.

Ohio Elections Commission, 514 U.S. 334, 353 (1995). Relying primarily upon

Talley v. California, 362 U.S. 60 (1960), the McIntyre Court found an Ohio law

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punishing the circulation of a political handbill without including the name and

address of the sponsor to be a violation of the First Amendment principle of

anonymity. See McIntyre at 341-43. 

Writing for the majority, Justice Stevens surveyed the history of the

freedoms of speech and of the press, concluding that the decision whether to

disclose the identity of the author, the publisher, the distributor — of anyone else

associated with the circulation of the political flier is vested by the First

Amendment to the author, with the sole power to decide whether to “go public”

or withhold his identity. As Justice Stevens put it: “[A]n author’s decision to

remain anonymous, like other decisions concerning omissions or additions to the

content of a publication, is an aspect of the freedom of speech protected by the

First Amendment.” Id. at 342. And for good and sufficient reason, Justice

Stevens continued:

Anonymity ... provides a way for a writer who may be personally

unpopular to ensure that readers will not prejudge her message

simply because they do not like its proponent. Thus, even in the

field of political rhetoric, where “the identity of the speaker is an

important component of many attempts to persuade,”... the most

effective advocates have sometimes opted for anonymity. [Id. at

342-43.]

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Finally, Justice Stevens observed that “the [anonymous] speech in which Mrs.

McIntyre engaged — handing out leaflets in the advocacy of a politically

controversial viewpoint — is the essence of First Amendment [and] [n]o form of

speech is entitled to greater constitutional protection....” Id. at 347.

Third, as for ensuring that voters are “fully informed,” the Supreme

Court once again has foiled the chief judge’s totalitarian view of the First

Amendment’s marketplace of ideas. Only two years before Buckley, the Court

decided Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo, 418 U.S. 241 (1974), striking

down a Florida “right of reply” statute that provided if any candidate for political

office is assailed regarding his personal character or official record by a

newspaper, the candidate has the right to demand that the newspaper provide the

candidate access to that paper without charge in as conspicuous a place and

manner. In a unanimous decision, the Court rejected the argument that, because

the Miami Herald “had become noncompetitive and enormously powerful and

influential in its capacity to manipulate popular opinion,” the right to reply

statute was essential to preserve the “the First Amendment interest of the public

in being informed.” Id. at 249, 251.

In support of its decision, Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote:

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[T]he Florida statute fails to clear the barriers of the First

Amendment because of its intrusion into the function of editors.... 

Ths choice of material to go into a newspaper, and the decisions

made as to limitations on the ... content of the paper, and treatment

of public issues and public officials – whether fair or unfair –

constitute the exercise of editorial control and judgment. [Id. at

258.]

Fourth, as for achieving the “maximum deterrence” to “corruption and

undue influence,” the chief judge contradicts her earlier assertion that “disclosure

has been upheld as ‘the least restrictive means of curbing he evils of campaign

ignorance and corruption.’” CREW at 355-56. If “disclosure is a less restrictive

alternative to more comprehensive regulations of speech,” as the chief judge has

written, then by definition, “publicity” cannot “achieve ... the maximum

deterrence to corruption and undue influence possible.” Id.

III. IN A CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC, THE PEOPLE MUST BE

FREE TO CRITICIZE THE GOVERNMENT AND TRY TO OUST

INCUMBENT POLITICIANS FROM OFFICE WITHOUT THE

THREAT OF RETALIATION.

Section II of this amicus brief addresses how the district court’s unlimited

faith in the power of disclosure to protect the nation from all manner of supposed

evil tainted her view of the statute. That same faith is expressed by most of our

nation’s political elites, but it is badly misplaced. Although it is true that a

handful of quotations carefully selected from a handful of Supreme Court

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decisions support forced disclosure in some situations, compelled disclosure is a

dangerous tool in the hands of those in power who often use it in order to

maintain themselves in power. It certainly neither grounded in the U.S.

Constitution, nor in the values embraced by and practices of the Founders and

Framers, nor in any high-minded legislative goals. For these reasons, this Court

must be mindful of the damage done to the nation by forced disclosure laws. 

Consider first the matter of motivation of those who enact such laws.

A. Campaign Finance Laws Are Bad Enough When Written by

Incumbents for Incumbents, but Should Never Be Re-written by

Judges Selected by Incumbents to Protect Incumbents.

It would be a mistake of the first order to assume that incumbent members

of Congress who draft and support campaign finance bills do so without any

consideration of the effect that such bills, if enacted, would have on their ability

to gain re-election. Quite naturally, incumbents do not want to make it easier for

challengers to defeat them at the polls, and thus it is reasonable to presume

generally that campaign finance legislation favors incumbents and disfavors

challengers. Indeed, campaign finance laws contribute mightily to ensuring that

unless they make a major mistake, incumbents generally are re-elected to office

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again and again. See generally James Miller, Monopoly Politics (Hoover Inst.

Press: 1999).7

 

Consider first the basic requirement that campaigns are required to disclose

the name, address, and occupation of contributors to their campaigns, as well as

the date and amount of the contribution. When a challenger learns from a

campaign finance report that a businessman in his district has given money to an

incumbent, that information provides him little to no useful information. In

theory, the challenger could seek support from that donor for himself, as

insurance for the donor to preserve access in the statistically unlikely event that

the challenger were to win, such sales are difficult to make. On the other hand,

when an incumbent learns that a businessman in his district has given money to a

challenger, the Congressman or his finance chairman can call the donor and

7 The website OpenSecrets.org gathered data on Congressional re-election

rates from 1964 to 2018, and concluded: “Few things in life are more

predictable than the chances of an incumbent member of the U.S. House of

Representatives winning reelection. With wide name recognition, and usually an

insurmountable advantage in campaign cash, House incumbents typically have

little trouble holding onto their seats.... 

“Senate races still overwhelmingly favor the incumbent, but not by as

reliable a margin as House races. Big swings in the national mood can sometimes

topple long time office-holders, as happened with the Reagan revolution in 1980. 

Even so, years like that are an exception.” “Reelection Rates Over the Years,”

OpenSecrets.org (emphasis added). 

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suggest that the donor has made a grievous mistake, which could adversely affect

his business interests, unless it is rectified by an equal or greater contribution to

the incumbent. Incumbents can steer federal contracts and other benefits away

from donors to challengers, and as federal spending spirals out of control, more

and more businesses have come to depend on the government for a significant

portion of their revenue. Moreover, the very fact that a contribution to a

challenger will become publicly known causes businessmen either to make a

contribution to a challenger at a level below the $200 reporting requirement, or

make no contribution at all. Simply put, incumbents have power to use the

donor information required to be made public in FEC reports; challengers do

not. 

The new mandatory disclosure requirement which the district court would

impose on donors to organizations which are not political committees — such as

those organizations exempt from federal income taxation under Internal Revenue

Code section 501(c)(4) — would have much less justification than the disclosure

requirements for contributions to candidate committees. The Supreme Court has

viewed that the risk of corruption from undisclosed donors to candidates to

outweigh the harm. But with independent expenditures, there is no risk of

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corruption because the money is not contributed to the campaign committee

and cannot be coordinated with the candidate or the campaign. And because

the money is being spent by a non-political committee, where most of its

activities are not in the electoral area, the supposed threat of corruption is even

more remote. 

Yet Congress does not want to be perceived as having rigged the electoral

process so tightly that the People come to conclude that the problem is not the

risk of donors corrupting Congress, but rather that Congress already is corrupt. 

Balancing its desire for re-election with its desire not to be perceived as unfair,

one can surmise Congress went as far as it felt comfortable in mandating donor

disclosure for independent expenditures. Although the language of earmarking is

not used by Congress, the only statutorily mandated disclosure for donations to

non-political committees is where donations are clearly given to fund an

independent expenditure for or against a particular candidate. That type of

mandated disclosure should be the outer limit of what is required by the FEC, as

it has been for nearly 40 years. So there is no reason to assume, as the district

court did, that Congress had really intended to go further and require the

disclosure of all donors to a non-political committee’s independent expenditures. 

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If Congress had actually intended that result, but the FEC misunderstood

it, Congress has now had 30 years to clarify the matter — and, at the same time,

take the political heat for imposing this further pro-incumbent “reform.”8 When

such a new disclosure requirement is imposed by a district judge, the damage

that it does to the Republic is even worse than if Congress imposed it. Although

the People can oust a Congressman or Senator or President who rigs the system

to his own advantage, the People cannot vote out the district judge who re-writes

statutes to protect incumbents against challengers. The People rightly should and

do have disdain for federal judges who, after being appointed by a politician in

8 Although the district court clearly asserted that the FEC regulation was

inconsistent with the provision in the Federal Election Campaign Act, since the

remedy was to vacate and remand the regulation, it is not at all clear what level

of disclosure would be imposed by the FEC, or found acceptable to the district

court. For example, suppose an Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(4)

organization — a non-political committee — supporting the “Green New Deal”

were to send out fundraising letters explaining its educational programs, its

conferences, its website, its lobbying efforts, and were then to mention that it

planned to run unspecified independent expenditures supporting future candidates

who embraced the Green New Deal, would the name and address of every donor

over the dollar threshold need to be publicly reported? If so, it would have one

of two effects. Either the confidentiality of the donors would be compromised,

or the organization would choose never to fund an independent expenditure. 

This, of course, may be the desire of CREW, and perhaps the district court, but

it is not clear that the vitality of our constitutional republic would be enhanced by

such a violation of principles of anonymity. 

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the Presidency, and confirmed by politicians in the Senate, then issues decisions

giving additional tools to incumbent Senators who seek to gain re-election. 

B. The Framers Embraced and Practiced Anonymity in Politics. 

It is also a mistake to believe that campaign finance disclosure is The

American Way — in the tradition of the Founders of the Nation and the Framers

of our Constitution. Although the Progressive Era brought with it the Tillman

Act of 1907 which banned contributions by corporations and federally chartered

banks, and a few other restrictions in the following years, it was not until 180

years into our nation’s history that such mandatory disclosure was embraced. 

Incumbents who favor disclosure, and those who do their bidding such as

CREW, would have people believe that the opposite of disclosure is secrecy,

“dark money,”9and corruption. The opposite of disclosure, however, is

Anonymity — a political tradition with a long pedigree in both England and

America. 

The 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John

Jay (later Chief Justice) in support of the ratification of the Constitution, later

9 The district court used this negative term to explain its decision. See

CREW at 356. 

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assembled as The Federalist Papers, were published anonymously, under a

pseudonym.

It was common in the eighteenth century, in England as in the

American colonies, to publish political essays under a classical

pseudonym in order to identify with a Roman statesman —

particularly a republican — and conceal one’s identify. The

Federalist essays were all signed “Publius,” a reference to Publius

Valerius Publicola, the legendary Roman statesman and general of

the sixth century.... [George W. Carey & James McClellan, edts.,

The Federalist (Liberty Fund: 2001) at xlv-xlvi (emphasis added).] 

Indeed, there might not be an Article III under which the district court exercises

its authority, or a First Amendment for the district court to interpret, if The

Federalist Papers were not written in response to arguments against ratification

of the Constitution which also were made pseudonymously, by persons using

names like “Cato” (a writer generally believed to be New York Governor

George Clinton). Id. at xliii.10

Interestingly, the use of “Cato” during the ratification period followed its

use as a pseudonym by John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon who attacked the

British government in London papers from 1720 to 1723. 

10 The Federalist Papers is not an outlier. A rich collection of 76 articles

on a wide variety of political topics from 1760 to 1805 has been assembled,

perhaps 10 percent of which were Anonymous or Pseudonymous. See Charles

S. Hyneman & Donald S. Lutz, American Political Writing During the Founding

Era 1760-1805 (Liberty Press: 1983). 

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The immediate occasion of the letters was the bursting of the South

Sea Bubble, which had precipitated a financial crisis of huge

proportions [taking the position] that the crisis was due in large part

to the machinations of the officers of the South Sea Company, who

had connived with members of the government and of the royal

court to bilk the public.... [Ronald Hamowy, edt. Cato’s Letters,

(Liberty Fund: 1995) at xx (emphasis added).] 

One can readily see why both pseudonymous “Cato’s” might have voluntarily

chosen anonymity over government compelled disclosure. Although laws

mandating disclosure of the identity of those critical of incumbents is offered by

incumbents as a way to guard against future corruption, it is often the exposure

of government’s existing corruption that those incumbents seek to prevent. 

One could say that a distinction could be made between publishing

anonymous attacks on a corrupt government, on the one hand, and criticizing an

incumbent in an independent expenditure on the other, but the distinction would

only appeal to those who are part of the nation’s ruling elite seeking to perpetuate

that elite. That argument likely would not appeal to either Madison, Hamilton,

Jay or even Thomas Paine who wrote his widely influential pamphlet attacking

British rule, Common Sense, under the pseudonym “An Englishman.” Truly,

anonymity has a long and distinguished pedigree which must be protected. A

person who seeks to change government may voluntarily choose to identify

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himself to his audience if the penalty that the government could inflict on him is

modest, but he may prefer anonymity if he fears severe retribution from the

government. 

In sum, the government, which is to say incumbents, does not like

voluntary choice when they could be the object of criticism, so they choose

coerced disclosure to tamp down the fires of discontent. Campaign finance

disclosure laws enacted by incumbents to protect incumbents, even if they have

been viewed as constitutionally permissible by earlier federal courts, are bad

enough. These coercive laws must not be expanded upon by unelected judges

who have no appreciation for the American way — Anonymity. 

CONCLUSION

For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the district court should be

reversed.

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Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Herbert W. Titus

______________________________

J. MARK BREWER HERBERT W. TITUS*

BREWER, PRITCHARD & BUCKLEY, P.C. WILLIAM J. OLSON

770 S. Post Oak Lane JEREMIAH L. MORGAN

Houston, Texas 77056 ROBERT J. OLSON

Co-counsel for Amicus Curiae WILLIAM J. OLSON, P.C.

Conservative Legal Defense 370 Maple Avenue West, Suite 4

and Education Fund Vienna, Virginia 22180-5615

(703) 356-5070

JAMES N. CLYMER Counsel for Amici Curiae

CLYMER BODENE, P.C.

408 West Chestnut Street *Attorney of record

Lancaster, PA 17603 March 18, 2019

Co-counsel for Amicus Curiae

Conservative Legal Defense

and Education Fund

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CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE WITH RULE 32(a)

IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED:

1. That the foregoing Brief Amicus Curiae of Gun Owners of America,

Inc., et al., in Support of Defendant-Appellant and Reversal complies with the

type-volume limitation of Rule 32(a)(7)(B), Federal Rules of Appellate

Procedure, because this brief contains 5,663 words, excluding the parts of the

brief exempted by Rule 32(f).

2. This brief complies with the typeface requirements of Fed. R. App.

P. 32(a)(5) and the type style requirements of Fed. R. App. P. 32(a)(6) because

this brief has been prepared in a proportionally spaced typeface using

WordPerfect version 17.0.0.336 in 14-point CG Times.

/s/ Herbert W. Titus

__________________________

Herbert W. Titus

Attorney for Amici Curiae

Dated: March 18, 2019

USCA Case #18-5261 Document #1778206 Filed: 03/18/2019 Page 38 of 39
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that service of the foregoing Brief Amicus

Curiae of Gun Owners of America, Inc., et al., in Support of DefendantAppellant and Reversal, was made, this 18th

day of March 2019, by the Court’s

Case Management/Electronic Case Files system upon the attorneys for the

parties.

/s/ Herbert W. Titus

_________________________

Herbert W. Titus

Attorney for Amici Curiae

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