186
Opinion of the Court
Law Foundation, Inc., et al. was John A. Sbarbaro. Kerry S. Hada filed a brief for respondents David Aitken et al. Bill Orr, respondent, pro se, and Mr. O'Toole filed a brief.*
Justice Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court.
Colorado allows its citizens to make laws directly through initiatives placed on election ballots. See Colo. Const., Art. V, §§ 1(1), (2); Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 1-40-101 to 1-40-133 (1998). We review in this case three conditions Colorado places on the ballot-initiative process: (1) the requirement that initiative-petition circulators be registered voters, Colo. Rev. Stat. § 1-40-112(1) (1998); (2) the requirement that they wear an identification badge bearing the circulator's name, § 1-40-112(2); and (3) the requirement that proponents of an initiative report the names and addresses of all paid circulators and the amount paid to each circulator, § 1-40-121.
Precedent guides our review. In Meyer v. Grant, 486 U. S. 414 (1988), we struck down Colorado's prohibition of payment for the circulation of ballot-initiative petitions. Petition circulation, we held, is "core political speech," because it involves "interactive communication concerning political change." Id., at 422 (internal quotation marks omitted).
*Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were filed for the State of Washington et al. by Christine O. Gregoire, Attorney General of Washington, and Jean M. Wilkinson and William Berggren Collins, Assistant Attorneys General, and by the Attorneys General for their respective States as follows: Bruce M. Botelho of Alaska, Grant Woods of Arizona, Daniel E. Lungren of California, Alan G. Lance of Idaho, Thomas J. Miller of Iowa, Carla J. Stovall of Kansas, Andrew Ketterer of Maine, Mike Moore of Mississippi, W. A. Drew Edmondson of Oklahoma, Betty D. Montgomery of Ohio, Hardy Myers of Oregon, and Mark Barnett of South Dakota; and for the Council of State Governments et al. by Richard Ruda and Ronald D. Maines.
Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for the American Civil Liberties Union et al. by David C. Warren, Steven R. Shapiro, and Mark Silverstein; and for the Initiative & Referendum Institute by Stephen J. Safranek.
Barnaby W. Zall filed a brief for National Voter Outreach, Inc., as amicus curiae.
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