The state's campaign finance limits will remain in place, at least for the time being. Arizona Public Radio's Howard Fischer reports.
Last month the State Court of Appeals voided a law pushed through by the Republican-controlled Legislature earlier this year to let candidates take more money from donors...a lot more. For legislators the cap would go from $440.00 to $4,000.00. And there would no longer be limits on how much candidates could take from all political action committees. This week, the Arizona Supreme Court rejected a bid by top Republican lawmakers to allow those higher limits to be in effect while the legality of the law is debated.
But the justices did agree to a December 17th hearing to give the GOP interests defending the law a chance to convince them that higher limits are constitutional. That pleased their attorney, Mike Liburdi, who said, "obviously, from our point of view, we're very encouraged by the court's decision to take the case. We look forward to the opportunity to go to court and explain why the Court of Appeals decision is so wrong."
But, Liburdi only got part of what he wanted. He had asked the high court to also let him argue that the current caps on donations are so low to be an infringement on the First Amendment rights of both politicians and donors. The justices, however, were not interested in hearing that issue.