Constitutional Law › Election & Politics Law › Business Organization

Without An “Intelligible Principle” Can The SEC Adopt Political Spending Rules?

In August 2011, Professor Lucian Bebchuk and nine other law professors submitted this petition asking that the Securities and Exchange Commission adopt rules requiring public companies to disclose to shareholders the use of...more

Unsettled Settlements(?): The Effect of an Invalidated Recess Appointment on the CFPB Director’s Authority to Settle Proceedings

The constitutionality of President Obama’s recess appointment of Richard Cordray as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) is being challenged in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the...more

Are Political Contributions Ultra Vires?

It’s been three years, but the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Comm’n, 558 US 50 (2010) continues to foment a fierce debate about corporate political spending. In February, Representative Adam...more

Canning v. National Labor Relations Board

Obama NLRB Recess Appointments Unconstitutional (Text Copy)

Full text copy of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruling in Canning v. National Labor Relations Board, which found President Obama’s recess appointments of three members to the NLRB in January 2012 to be...more

Senator Seeks 24-Hour Advance Notice Of Corporate Political Contributions/Assemblymember Asks For Constitutional Convention

Yesterday, Broc Romanek noted the continuing interest in mandating disclosure of political spending by corporations. See Battle Lines Being Drawn: Political Spending Disclosures. We are also seeing activity here in...more

Does The Victims Of Corporate Fraud Compensation Fund Deny Due Process?

In notorious defiance of the California Constitution, the legislature in 2002 established the Victims of Corporate Fraud Compensation Fund. See Victims of Corporate Fraud. The purpose of the fund is to provide ”restitution to...more

Debate Over Campaign Finance Disclosure Continues

While the landmark decision of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010), opened the door to unlimited corporate spending independent of candidates, it also opened the door to unlimited debate over...more

Eighth Circuit Questions Minnesota Reporting Requirements for Independent Expenditures

In a split decision, the full Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a Minnesota District Court’s denial of a motion for a preliminary injunction, noting that the appellants, Minnesota business entities, are likely to...more

California Bill Threatens Market Exception For Dissenters’ Rights

The California legislature is taking its summer recess and will reconvene on August 6. Joint Rule 51(b)(2). It will then sit until August 31 which is the last day for either the Senate or the Assembly to pass bills. Cal....more

California Legislature Calls Supreme Court Decision “A Serious And Direct Threat To Our Democracy”

The California legislature recently passed a joint resolution, AJR 22 (Wieckowski & Allen), that is harshly critical of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 50 (2010). ...more

Governor Brown Submits Agency M&A Proposal

Article V, Section 6 of the California Constitution provides that the legislature may provide by statute for the Governor to “assign and reorganize functions among executive officers and agencies and their employees, other...more

Il caso dell'Ospedale di Hinchingbrook - Commento di Nicola C. Salerno (Direttore del CeRM)

L’esperienza del Regno Unito va, a mio modo di vedere, letta su di un piano di principi d’azione, che poi possono essere implementati in maniera diversa a seconda della realtà Paese, e anche della...more

Governor Proposes To Consolidate The DFI And DOC

Article IV, Section 12(a) of the California Constitution requires the Governor to submit to the legislature a proposed budget for the ensuing fiscal year within the first ten days of the calendar year. Governor Jerry Brown...more

Will The “Fourth Branch” Rewrite California’s Corporate Law?

In 1911, California became the tenth state to adopt three key tools of popular sovereignty – the initiative, referendum and recall. As defined by the California Constitution, the initiative is the power of the electors to...more

Update on Redevelopment Law: The Supreme Court Makes it Official - Redevelopment is Dead in California

The California Supreme Court released its opinion today in California Redevelopment Association v. Matosantos, challenging the Legislature's adoption of AB 1X 26, providing for elimination of California redevelopment agencies...more

Arizona Will Audit Certain Organizations

Last week, the Arizona Secretary of State’s office announced that it will begin auditing statewide and legislative “independent expenditure committees,” that engage in political activism without registering as political...more

Nevada Enacts Changes To Business Records and Notice Requirements

Apparently, the State of Nevada takes seriously Judge Gideon J. Tucker’s observation that “no man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.” quoted in Lucas v. Mercantile-Safe Deposit & Trust...more

"Citizens United": The Supreme Court Decision One Year Later

The Supreme Court issued its landmark opinion in Citizens United v. FEC one year ago today. That case allowed corporations and labor unions to make independent expenditures for or against political candidates. An editorial in...more

Sandy Springs Restructures Its Business and Occupation Tax

The Sandy Springs, Georgia, City Council revised its Business and Occupation Tax ordinance on December 21, 2010 in an effort to foster economic development and alleviate the potential chilling effect on the City’s business...more

Foreign Money and Political Activity - 3 Things Associations Must Know

The recent US Chamber experience is a teachable moment for 501(c)6 organizations. Since the Supreme Court held earlier this year that the First Amendment allows corporations and associations to play a more direct role in...more

Sanity must be made to prevail in Zimbabwe – Lloyd Msipa

Sanity must be made to prevail in Zimbabwe – Lloyd Msipa “We are enveloped in the politics of hate. The amount of hate that is being preached today in this country is frightful. What Zimbabwe fought for was peace,...more

Reflections on the Current State of “Attributional Nexus”: When May a State Use the Presence of an In-State Entity to Claim...

The downturn in the national economy has triggered a budgetary crisis for many state governments. Undoubtedly, legislatures will seek increased revenues as part of the solution to the budgetary shortfalls. One politically...more