Lincoln Club v. City of Irvine

The Lincoln Club of Orange County and its affiliated political action committees [“The Lincoln Club”] brought an action for declaratory and injunctive relief in the district court challenging the constitutionality of section l-2-404(B) of the City of Irvine’s [“Irvine”] Campaign Financing Law. The district court granted Irvine’s motion for summary judgment. The Lincoln Club appeals. We reverse and remand.

Facts and Procedural History

Section l-2-404(B) [“the Ordinance”] of Irvine’s Campaign Financing Law imposes a maximum limit on the amount of campaign contributions that a person or committee may receive from a single source during an election campaign. The Ordinance provides that:

The contribution limit in place for the two-year election cycle ending with the November 2000 election was $820. A person or committee is subject to civil and criminal prosecution for violation of the Ordinance if it accepts during an election cycle contributions from any person that in the aggregate exceed $320, and in the same election cycle makes independent expenditures in support of or in opposition to candidates for office in an Irvine municipal election.

The Lincoln Club is a nonprofit…