Trevor Potter to Speak on Yale University's Political Donations Panel

Under current judicial interpretation, the government has very little wiggle room to curb the spending of money for electioneering. Spending money to influence elections is interpreted as integral to first amendment rights. However, the Supreme Court has signaled that governments are able to compel disclosure of political contributions. Disclosure – publicizing who donors are, who they are giving to, and how much - is seen as the primary way that governments can mitigate concerns about the role of money in politics. There are a number of disclosure policy proposals out there, and the goal of this panel is to sort through the various ideas for reform. The lawyers on the panel (Gerken and Potter) will talk about the legal foundations and policy proposals. The political scientists (La Raja and Primo) will talk about the empirical evidence of the effects of disclosure laws.