Presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren’s new anti-lobbying plan may infringe on free speech rights, according to several legal scholars.
Sen. Warren (D., Mass.) released a plan to target lobbyists with additional disclosure requirements, as well as “a new tax on excessive lobbying that applies to every corporation and trade organization that spends over $500,000 per year lobbying our government.” Some constitutional scholars are skeptical such a tax—which goes up to 75 percent of total spending—could survive a Supreme Court challenge. The First Amendment’s guarantee of the right of all citizens “to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” applies to paid advocates, according to Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
“[Warren] completely forgets and ignores the fact that lobbying is a First Amendment right,” von Spakovsky told the Washington Free Beacon. “The First Amendment says that you have a right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. That’s what lobbying is, and her idea that it’s somehow evil is just wrong. It’s a basic constitutional right.”
The Warren campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Other scholars echoed von Spakovsky’s concerns. Michael Barone, a resident fellow at the pro-free market American Enterprise Institute, said he could “see an argument that says this proposal would penalize the exercise of First Amendment rights,” comparing it to “a confiscatory tax on newspaper.” Trevor Burrus, a research fellow for the libertarian Cato Institute’s constitutional studies center, concurred, saying “Sen. Warren has essentially proposed a tax on that fundamental right.” He accused the Democratic presidential hopeful of attempting to “squelch political speech.” – READ MORE