Farris v. Seabrook II
N/AOUTCOME: Affirmed by 9th Circuit Ct. of Appeals
In June, 2011, Oldfield and Helsdon and Ms. Farris filed a complaint in US District Court challenging the constitutionality under the First Amendment of the Washington statute limiting contributions to ... recall campaigns, and moved for the issuance of a preliminary injunction against the PDC, preventing it from enforcing the $800 per contributor limit in recall campaigns. On July 15, 2011, US District Court Judge Robert Bryan issued a preliminary injunction. The state of Washington appealed Judge Bryan’s injunction to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed in a decision published on January 19, 2012, Farris v. Seabrook, 677 F.3d 858 (2012). Oldfield and Helsdon and Ms. Farris filed a motion for summary judgment declaring the $800 per contributor limit facially unconstitutional, and unconstitutional as applied. Judge Bryan granted the motion in part on November 6, 2012, finding the statute to be a violation of the First Amendment, as applied to Oldfield and Helsdon and Ms. Farris in the Recall of Pierce County Assessor/Treasurer Dale Washam, only. Oldfield and Helsdon and Ms. Farris appealed the decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, asking the Ninth Circuit to hold that the contribution limit to recall campaigns is facially unconstitutional. Oral argument was held by the Ninth Circuit on February 6, 2014.
