Judge blocks Ohio ban on foreign nationals, green card holders contributing to ballot campaigns

A judge ruled Saturday that the Ohio law, which was set to take effect Sunday, violated the First Amendment rights of non-U.S. citizens living here legally

A federal judge blocked Ohio’s ban on foreign nationals and green card holders contributing to ballot campaigns.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Watson ruled Saturday that the Ohio law, which was set to take effect Sunday, violated the First Amendment rights of non-U.S. citizens living here legally, often known as green card holders.

Watson concluded that Ohio lawmakers have a legitimate interest in protecting ballot issues from foreign influence, but this law missed the mark.

For example, the law doesn’t limit foreign companies from contributing to ballot measures. Instead, it likely violates the rights of lawful permanent residents, who live in the United States indefinitely and can serve in the military.

“If the U.S. Federal Government trusts LPRs [lawful permanent residents] to put U.S. interests first in the military (of all places), how could this Court hold that it does not trust them to promote U.S. interests in their political spending? It cannot,” wrote Watson, who was appointed to the court by former President George W. Bush.

Ohio lawmakers added a ban on foreign contributions to ballot campaigns to a bill changing the deadline for presidential nominees to make the Ohio ballot. Democrats scheduled their national convention this year after Ohio’s initial deadline, necessitating the change.

There already was a ban in Ohio on candidate donations.

The penalty for these contributions is a fine of at least $10,000 or three times the amount contributed and a first-degree misdemeanor for the first offense or a fifth-degree felony for repeat offenses. The Ohio attorney general is tasked with investigating and prosecuting these crimes.

When the bill was moving through the Legislature, Republican lawmakers like Rep. Bill Seitz, of Green Township, and Sen. Niraj Antani, of Miamisburg, warned that a judge could decide that they had overstepped.

“Green card holders absolutely have the right to freedom of speech,” Antani said before the vote. “And absolutely, donating to campaigns and candidates is free speech. This is going to get mucked up in the courts.”

Antani’s words proved prescient on Saturday.

Watson wrote: “Not only does the First Amendment protect lawful resident foreign nationals as speakers, but it also protects U.S. citizens’ right to hear those foreign nationals’ political speech.”

The lawsuit challenging Ohio’s ban on foreign spending was filed by OPAWL – Building AAPI Feminist Leadership, Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, a German citizen and her husband who live in northeast Ohio and a Canadian citizen who lives in Silver Lake by the Elias Law Group and Cooper Elliott.

Read the decision:

Jessie Balmert covers state government and politics for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.