Press Releases

Terre Haute, Indiana – On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of the United States found that a federal statute cannot be used to criminalize “gratuities” received by state and local officials. The James Madison Center for Free Speech had filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Mayor James Snyder, to protect First Amendment free speech and free association from being criminalized by the federal government.

Unanimous US Supreme Court Rules President Trump Cannot be Disqualified from the 2024 Ballot Terre Haute, Indiana - On Monday, The Supreme Court of the United States unanimously held that states cannot remove President Donald Trump from the presidential ballot. The James Madison Center for Free Speech had submitted an amicus brief to the Court in support of President Trump in this case.

Terre Haute, Indiana – On Friday, the James Madison Center filed a friend of the court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of former Mayor James Snyder of Portage, Indiana, to overturn his conviction for normal, everyday bidding practices. The federal government convicted Mayor Snyder of corruption without proving an actual quid pro quo that is required to show genuine corruption under a law. This would make it illegal to do business with other people who you know or associate with who might also bid for municipal contracts. The federal Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals erroneously upheld the government’s version of the law and would make millions of people potential criminals at the state and local level. Imagine a public spirited citizen who writes a quick note on a donation to a state candidate: “Thanks for supporting our troops!” Under the government’s version of the law, this “gratuity” would be a crime, even though there was no illegal, corrupt bargain.

On December 19, 2023, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that President Trump was disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution because he “engaged in insurrection” regarding the January 6th attack on the US Capitol. Therefore, the court ordered that the Colorado Secretary of State could not list him as a candidate on the 2024 presidential primary ballot. But Section Three’s prohibition against having “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” requires a direct, overt act of insurrection, not incitement through speech. The Colorado Supreme Court erred when it held that mere incitement of insurrection was enough.

On September 8, in response to a “Request for Information,” the James Madison Center for Free Speech (“JMCFS”) submitted comments to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee (“Committee”) in support of bright-line IRS standards for tax-exempt organizations in order to rein in the threat to free sp...

Today, the Madison Center asked the Federal Election Commission to strengthen FEC reporting rules to prevent political committees from hiding payments for opposition research and narrative creation as payments for legal work by their lawyers. For example, the Democratic National Committee (“DNC”)...

The comments submitted by JMCFS in response to the FEC Notifcation of Availability of a Petition for Rulemaking Regarding Subvendor reporting is available at the link below: VIEW COMMENTS HERE

PRESS RELEASE February 23, 2021 Contact: James Bopp, Jr., General Counsel Phone 812-232-2434; Fax 812-235-3685; [email protected] Today, the James Madison Center for Free Speech (“JMCFS”), filed a friend of the court brief in two U.S. Supreme Court cases considering California's requirement t...

On February 7, 2020, James Bopp, Jr., General Counsel for the James Madison Center for Free Speech (“JMCFS”), will testify at the Internal Revenue Service's public hearing on its proposed regulation eliminating the requirement that § 501(c)(4) advocacy groups provide the names and addresses of co...

PRESS RELEASE Tuesday, December 10, 2019 Contact: James Bopp, Jr., General Counsel Phone 812-232-2434; Fax 812-235-3685; [email protected] James Madison Center for Free Speech Urges the IRS to Stop Gathering the Personal Information of Donors to 501(c)(4)s Yesterday, the James Madison Center ...

PRESS RELEASE Thursday September 20, 2018 Contact: James Bopp, Jr. Phone 812-232-2434; Fax 812-235-3685; [email protected]  Issue-Advocacy Group Asks Supreme Court to Review Sweeping Montana Political-Committee Law Today, Montanans for Community Development (“MCD”) asked the U.S. Supreme Cou...

PRESS RELEASE Friday, July 20, 2018 Contact: James Bopp, Jr. Phone 812-232-2434; Fax 812-235-3685; [email protected]  Amicus Brief Advocating Constitutional Definition of Quid Pro Quo Corruption Filed In United States Supreme Court Today, the James Madison Center for Free Speech filed an am...

PRESS RELEASE Wednesday, July 6, 2016 Contact: James Bopp, Jr. Phone 812/232-2434; Fax 812/235-3685; [email protected] Judicial Candidate Petitions High Court For Right to Campaign             Last week, Randolph Wolfson asked the United States Supreme Court to review Arizona's judicial can...

PRESS RELEASE Monday, June 27, 2016 Contact: James Bopp, Jr. Phone 812-232-2434; Fax 812-235-3685; [email protected]  U.S. Supreme Court Holds Virginia Corruption Definition Unconstitutional Today, the United States Supreme Court vacated a jury conviction against former Virginia Governor Ro...

PRESS RELEASE Wednesday, May 18, 2016 Contact: James Bopp, Jr. Phone 812-232-2434; Fax 812-235-3685; [email protected]  Montana Candidate Contribution Limits Ruled Unconstitutional             Yesterday, a federal district court ruled that Montana candidate contribution limits were unconsti...

PRESS RELEASE Monday, March 7, 2016 Contact: James Bopp, Jr. Phone 812-232-2434; Fax 812-235-3685; [email protected] Amicus Brief Seeking Constitutional Definition of Quid Pro Quo Corruption Filed In United States Supreme Court Today, the James Madison Center for Free Speech filed an amicus...

Press Release  August 17, 2015 Contact: James Bopp, Jr.Phone 812/232-2434; Cell 812/243-0825; Fax 812/235-3685; [email protected] Hawaii's Law Making Multimillion Dollar Electrical Construction Company a PAC is Appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court Hawaii law – rather than requiring constitutional, si...

Today, the James Madison Center for Free Speech filed an amicus brief with the Wisconsin Supreme Court advising the Court that a judge is not constitutionally required to remove herself from a case simply because a party made independent expenditures years ago supporting their candidacy. The brie...

Today, six judicial candidates joined the James Madison Center for Free Speech in filing an amicus brief asking the United States Supreme Court to strike down Florida's personal solicitation ban, citing the First Amendment's political speech protections as grounds. Last month, the United States S...

Last Friday, a bipartisan coalition of candidates, business people, and others asked a federal court to reverse its 2009 decision upholding New York City's campaign finance laws which unfairly reduced the contribution limits for the business community to just one-tenth of what everyone else is al...

Vermont's campaign-finance law, that requires a lobby group to be a PAC if it engages in over $1,000 in issue advocacy and that imposed contribution limits on Vermont “superpacs,” was appealed Monday to the U.S. Supreme Court. The challenge is brought by Vermont Right to Life Committee, Inc. (“VR...

Today, Montanans for Community Development (“MCD”) asked a Montana federal court to prohibit the Commissioner of Political Practices and other state officials from enforcing unclear campaign finance laws and prevent those officials from investigating violations until constitutionally adequate pro...

On June 16, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held unconstitutional California's requirement that ballot initiative petition forms identify the official initiative proponents. This follows court opinions allowing anonymity at the point of petition circulation. For example, a prior c...

On Friday, the Ninth Circuit federal appellate court ruled that Arizona judicial canons that restrict the ability of judicial candidates to engage in ordinary political activities as part of their campaigns are unconstitutional. The plaintiff in the case, Randolph Wolfson, is a resident of Golden...

Today the Republican National Committee filed its opening brief in McCutcheon v. FEC in the U.S. Supreme Court. The case, brought by the Republican National Committee and Shaun McCutcheon, challenges the federal biennial, individual aggregate limits on contributions to candidates and national pol...