ACLU Appeals to Supreme Court on Green Party's behalf

The ACLU of Connecticut and the ACLU national office, on behalf of the Green Party and others, are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a recent decision by the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and find that Connecticut's public campaign finance law puts minor party candidates at a disadvantage. While ruling in favor of the ACLU on other questions, the Second Circuit decision unfairly limited minor and independent party candidates participation in public campaign financing.

The petition asks the Supreme Court to consider "whether Connecticut's campaign finance law discriminates against minor party candidates by imposing qualifying requirements that are more onerous than any others in the nation." The ACLU contends that Connecticut's criteria are unnecessary either to avoid overwhelming ballots with splinter parties, or to prevent excessive demands on public funds. The ACLU also argues that the law penalizes a third-party candidate who raises a specified amount of money "by awarding their major party opponents an offsetting grant that will often far exceed what the minor party candidate has raised and spent."