Federal appeals court rules Missouri cannot ban contributions between political action committees News
Federal appeals court rules Missouri cannot ban contributions between political action committees

The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit [official website] on Monday affirmed a lower court ruling [opinions, PDF] that Missouri cannot ban contributions between political action committees (PACs).

In Free and Fair Election Fund v. Missouri Ethnics Commission, the district court had ordered a permanent injunction of a recently enacted provision of the Missouri Constitution, Art. VIII, § 23.3(12) [text, PDF]. This provision prohibits any PAC from receiving contributions from another PAC.

The district court found that this ban unconstitutionally infringed on the committees’ First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and association. Opponents had argued for greater transparency in campaign finance.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Alabama governor Wallace deployed National Guard to stop integration of Tuskegee High

On September 2, 1963, then-Alabama Governor George Wallace surrounded the Tuskegee High School with Alabama National Guard troops in an effort to prevent its integration pursuant to a federal court order in Lee vs. Macon County. In response, President John F. Kennedy federalized the Guard and sent it back to its barracks.

Former Rwanda politician convicted of genocide

On September 2, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) convicted the former mayor of Taba, Jean-Paul Akayesu, on nine counts of crimes against humanity and genocide for his role in the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. A month later, Akayesu was sentenced to life in prison for his crimes. Read ICTR documents from the trial of Jean-Paul Akayesu.