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.