Montana nonprofits sue to block Initiative 194, the new ban on election spending by nonprofits and corporations
Two Montana think tanks, two family advocacy groups and the state Republican Party asked a federal court in Helena on Nov. 3 to strike the voter-approved law as a violation of the First Amendment. It takes effect Jan. 1, 2027, unless a judge blocks it.
Helena. Five Montana organizations have sued in federal court to stop Initiative 194, the measure voters approved on Nov. 3 that takes away the power of nonprofits, corporations and other "artificial persons" to spend money for or against candidates, parties and ballot issues in the state. The complaint was filed on Election Day in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, Helena Division, and announced by the plaintiffs' lawyers on Nov. 5.
The plaintiffs are the Frontier Institute, a Helena think tank recognized as a 501(c)(3) organization; the Frontier Action Fund, an affiliated group whose articles of incorporation were filed the same day and which will seek 501(c)(4) status; the Montana Family Institute, a 501(c)(3); the Montana Family Foundation, a 501(c)(4); and the Montana Republican State Central Committee. They are represented by the Institute for Free Speech, a Washington nonprofit that is also challenging a similar law in Hawaii. The defendants are Attorney General Austin Knudsen and Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen, the two officials the law charges with enforcing it.
What the plaintiffs claim
Under the law, an organization that spends on a Montana election forfeits its charter privileges, including limited liability, and is reinstated only after giving up what it spent and certifying future compliance. The complaint argues that this is a ban on political speech that Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission forbids, and brings five claims: free speech; freedom of association, assembly and petition; freedom of the press; overbreadth; and vagueness. It says the law's exemption for news, commentary and editorial content has no clear limits and does not cover political parties.
The groups describe what they say they would have to stop. The Frontier Institute says it regularly takes positions on ballot measures. The Montana Family Foundation publishes a scorecard of how legislators voted on bills about its issues after each session. The Republican Party says the law would keep corporations from paying into its funds for independent expenditures.
“Calling censorship a restriction on corporate privileges doesn't make it constitutional.”
What comes next
The plaintiffs ask the court to declare the law void and to bar its enforcement, against everyone or at least against them and their donors, through a preliminary and then a permanent injunction. No ruling had been reported by Nov. 6. Unless the court acts first, the law takes effect Jan. 1, 2027.
The measure's sponsor, the Transparent Election Initiative, has said it was designed to make Citizens United irrelevant rather than to overturn it, Reason reported. Montana is the second state, after Hawaii, to adopt a law of this kind.
About this story
501c3.help wrote this story from the sources listed with it, not from material an organization sent. Our editors approved it on Nov. 6, 2026. Stories in The Nonprofit Herald are free, and nothing is asked in return. Editorial rules.
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