Buckley v. American Constitutional Law Foundation, Inc., 525 U.S. 182, 3 (1999)

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184

BUCKLEY v. AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW FOUNDATION, INC.

Syllabus

implicates political thought and expression. The State's strong interest in policing lawbreakers among petition circulators by ensuring that circulators will be amenable to the Secretary of State's subpoena power is served by the requirement, upheld below, that each circulator submit an affidavit setting out, among several particulars, his or her address. ACLF did not challenge Colorado's right to require that all circulators be residents, a requirement that more precisely achieves the State's subpoena service objective. Assuming that a residence requirement would be upheld as a needful integrity-policing measure—a question that this Court, like the Tenth Circuit, has no occasion to decide because the parties have not placed the matter of residence at issue—the added registration requirement is not warranted. Pp. 192-197.

(c) The Tenth Circuit held the badge requirement invalid insofar as it requires circulators to display their names. The District Court found from evidence ACLF presented that compelling circulators to wear identification badges inhibits participation in the petitioning process. Colorado's interest in enabling the public to identify, and the State to apprehend, petition circulators who engage in misconduct is addressed by the requirement that circulators disclose their names and addresses on affidavits submitted with each petition section. Unlike a name badge worn at the time a circulator is soliciting signatures, the affidavit is separated from the moment the circulator speaks, when reaction to the message is immediate and may be the most intense, emotional, and unreasoned. Because the badge requirement compels personal name identification at the precise moment when the circulator's interest in anonymity is greatest, it does not qualify for inclusion among "the more limited [election process] identification requirement[s]" to which this Court alluded in McIntyre, 514 U. S., at 353. Like the Tenth Circuit, this Court expresses no opinion on the constitutionality of the additional requirements that the badge disclose whether the circulator is paid or volunteer, and if paid, by whom. Pp. 197-200.

(d) The Tenth Circuit invalidated the requirement that ballot-initiative proponents file a final report when the initiative petition is submitted insofar as that requirement compels disclosure of each paid circulator by name and address, and the total amount paid to each circulator. That court also rejected compelled disclosure in monthly reports of the name and address of each paid circulator, and the amount of money paid and owed to each circulator during the month in question. In ruling on these disclosure requirements, the Court of Appeals looked primarily to this Court's decision in Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U. S. 1. In Buckley, the Court stated that "exacting scrutiny" is necessary when compelled disclosure of campaign-related payments is at issue, but nevertheless upheld, as substantially related to important governmental

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