by JD Davidson
A federal court has struck down part of an Ohio bill that passed during a special session called to pass legislation aimed at ensuring President Joe Biden is elected in November.
Although Democrats never nominated Biden, a law was signed in the state banning foreign money from going to referendum initiatives.
But a federal judge said Saturday that the ban violates the First Amendment rights of noncitizens legally residing in the country. The law was set to go into effect Sunday.
The law passed along party lines in the majority-Republican House and Senate during a special session in May called by Gov. Mike DeWine, the first special session in Ohio in a decade.
“The Ohio Republican supermajority is drunk on power and is hell-bent on manipulating the rules against citizen referendum initiatives, even if it means likely violating the First Amendment and trampling on our most basic American freedoms,” said House Minority Leader Allison Russo, a Democrat from Upper Arlington. “I appreciate this court’s ruling and am confident that liberty and the rule of law will outweigh the continued political attacks on the right of Ohioans to change their government and decide the issues that matter most.”
U.S. District Court Judge Michael Watson said in his ruling that if constant residents are legally in the country and eligible to serve in the military, they should also be able to make political contributions.
“If the US federal government trusts its residents [lawful permanent residents] to put U.S. interests first in the military (of all places), how can this Court rule that they are not trusted to promote U.S. interests in their political spending? They cannot,” Watson wrote.
The law has changed state campaign financing a law that bars foreigners from donating to state election campaigns before the issues are put on the ballot. It was amended in the House to include a ban on immigrants entering the country legally with a green card.
Secretary of State Frank LaRose called the up-to-date law necessary to close a loophole in state campaign finance law. Foreign money has been banned from individual campaigns but has not been banned from potential ballot issues.
The same law extended the deadline for political parties to nominate someone for president this election year. At the time, it allowed Democrats to nominate President Joe Biden without a virtual vote.
Biden later dropped out of the race, and Democrats nominated Vice President Kamala Harris in a roll call vote ahead of the party convention last month.
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Born in Ohio, J.D. Davidson is a seasoned journalist with more than 30 years of experience at newspapers in Ohio, Georgia, Alabama and Texas. He has served as a reporter, editor, managing editor and publisher. Davidson is a regional editor Central Square.
Photo “Vote” by Phil Roeder.CC BY 2.0
