Yesterday, the District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania struck down Section 1513 of the Pennsylvania Gaming Act, 4 Pa. C.S. § 1513, as unconstitutional under the United States Constitution. Section 1513 prohibits gaming license applicants, licensees, and principals of licensees from making any political contributions. Judge Sylvia H. Rambo of the Middle District applied the modified intermediate scrutiny analysis applicable to restrictions on direct campaign contributions under the First Amendment to determine that, although Pennsylvania demonstrated a sufficiently important interest in preventing quid pro quo corruption or the appearance of such corruption, the Commonwealth failed to craft legislation that was closely drawn to achieve that important interest. Continue reading “Federal Court Strikes Down Pennsylvania’s Ban on Political Contributions from Casino Interests”