Default Article

Political Parties: Vehicles for Political Association

January 1, 2018  •  By IFS Staff  •    •  

Political parties have been an important actor in American politics since this country’s founding. Parties have been a boon to First Amendment freedoms of political speech and association. They’ve allowed individuals to join together and speak with one voice about the issues of the day. They’ve allowed candidates to associate with a brand and more easily convey their message to…

Libertarian National Committee, Inc. v. Federal Election Commission

September 12, 2018   •  By IFS Staff   •  , ,

The dead cannot ask for favors. And a political committee cannot offer them to the dearly departed. This is especially true when the deceased ...

Bruce Chapman’s Newest Book Shows How the Anti-Speech Lobby has Damaged Citizen Participation in Politics

July 25, 2018   •  By Eric Peterson   •  ,

What kind of people do we want running the government? Former Washington Secretary of State, diplomat, and current Chairman of the Board of the ...

Tenth Circuit Ruling Threatens Freedom of Association: Says Government Can Tell Parties How to Choose Their Leaders

June 1, 2018   •  By Owen Yeates   •  ,

Can the government control a private organization’s identity, leaders, and message? In a decision threatening all three of these First Amendment liberties, a divided ...

Utah Republican Party v. Cox

April 25, 2018   •  By IFS Staff   •  ,

Supreme Court can reinforce free speech with Rod Blagojevich case

April 11, 2018   •  By Thomas Wheatley   •  , , , ,

Five years into his jail sentence for corruption, former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich is down to his last appeal, now at the U.S. Supreme ...

Decrying “Out-of-State” Spending Only Further Divides Americans

January 11, 2018   •  By Joe Albanese   •  , ,

We live in politically polarized times – that’s about the one thing most Americans can agree on. A more contentious question is what – ...

Brookings Report Examines How Parties Have Weakened in Relation to Independent Groups

December 20, 2017   •  By Joe Albanese   •  , ,

Earlier this month, Jonathan Rauch – a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution – and Raymond J. La Raja – an ...

Is the Supreme Court about to give state and local political parties a boost?

May 10, 2017   •  By Brad Smith   •  , , ,

By Bradley A. Smith As part of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance "reform" of 2002, virtually everything these local parties do was brought into the web ...

AEI Panel Explores the Reasons for Congressional Gridlock

May 8, 2017   •  By Joe Albanese   •  ,

On Monday, the American Enterprise Institute hosted an event titled “Is Congress Broken?” It featured contributing authors and editors of a book by the ...

“Drain the Swamp” and Competing Conceptions of Corruption

April 17, 2017   •  By Luke Wachob   •  ,

Congressman Ken Buck (R-CO) is a founding member of the Freedom Caucus and the latest conservative to come out with a book criticizing the ...

Load more