Draft:Bluman v. FEC

Bluman v. Federal Election Commission (2012) was a First Amendment case involving the right to make political contributions.

Benjamin Bluman and Dr. Asenath Steiman were foreign citizens who temporarily lived and worked in the United States. They were legally in the country with work visas, but did not yet have permanent resident status. They wished to support their preferred candidates by making donations and independently making expenditures to support their candidates, including by printing a few dozen papers and handing them out to people to support a candidate.

Federal law 2 U.S.C. § 441e and FEC regulations prohibited foreign national from making any political contributions whatsoever:

"Federal law and Commission regulations prohibit foreign nationals who have not gained permanent resident status in the United States from “directly or indirectly” making “a contribution or donation of money or any other thing of value…in connection with a federal, state or local election.” Such persons are also prohibited from making “a contribution or donation to a committee of a political party,” and from making a disbursement for independent expenditures or electioneering communications."

The two plaintiffs sued the FEC, asking the court to block the enforcement of the law criminalizing political contributions by foreign nationals.

The FEC filed a motion to dismiss their lawsuit. A three-judge panel on the U.S. District Court for DC granted their motion to dismiss.

Bluman and Steiman appealed directly to the Supreme Court. The Institute for Justice. and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights submitted amicus briefs to the Supreme Court in support of Bluman.

The Court issued a summary opinion without hearing oral arguments in January 2012 affirming the dismissal by the District Court

This landmark case established that persons who are not U.S. citizens lack some First Amendment rights, such as those that could influence our elections.