It was a good day for Idaho Libertarians.

A U.S. District Court judge on Thursday ruled that the party would no longer have to follow state laws that limit how much it can spend on legislative and statewide candidates in coordination with their campaigns.

Other state political parties are still bound by the rules, which allow them to spend only $2,000 per election in coordination with candidates for the state Legislature, and $10,000 per election for statewide candidates.

The ruling was an injunction the Libertarian Party had sought as part of a July lawsuit it filed against the state, in which it argued that Idaho laws limiting political party contributions of this kind violate the First Amendment.

Plaintiffs in the case had asked the judge to bar state officials from enforcing parts of the state’s campaign finance law even before reaching a final decision in the case, claiming those rules were causing them harm with an election around the corner.

Bill Baber, the plaintiffs’ attorney, called the injunction a “victory.” It sets an unofficial precedent, he argued: Other political parties in the state can file their own lawsuits and likely get their own exemptions to state law ahead of November’s election.

The judge, Amanda Brailsford, did not grant the injunction to the party’s other plaintiffs — a political action committee called the Idaho Majority Club, and its chairman, Travis Clyde. In her ruling, she didn’t provide a reason for that decision. Still, in a statement, Clyde called her ruling “favorable” to the group’s overall arguments.

“We are confident we will prevail in the coming months,” he said.

The lawsuit does not address two other ways that parties can support candidates: through direct contributions to their campaigns, or through “independent expenditures” on a candidate’s behalf that the party does not coordinate with the candidate.

Idaho ‘overdue’ to update campaign finance laws

The group of organizations filed its lawsuit against Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador and Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane less than three weeks after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling said federal limits on coordinated campaign expenditures were unconstitutional violations of the First Amendment, the Idaho Statesman previously reported.

On Thursday, Baber told the Statesman that he’d started working on the state lawsuit as soon as he heard the U.S. Supreme Court’s verdict. He acknowledged that McGrane has been trying to work with the Idaho Legislature for years to modernize the state’s campaign finance laws but hasn’t managed to push many changes through.

Labrador’s office did not respond to a request for comment. As of Thursday afternoon, McGrane was still reviewing the judge’s order and was not yet ready to comment, said Joe Parris, a spokesperson for McGrane.

In a July statement to the Statesman, McGrane said his office was working with Labrador to review Idaho laws, and “a court order may be needed to enact the changes.”

“We’re overdue to update Idaho’s campaign finance laws to better align with modern elections,” he said at the time.

As it stands, Baber said, Idaho has among the most restrictive rules around political parties’ contributions to candidates, leaving them at a disadvantage relative to political action committees and other outside donors, which have few limitations in what they can spend in support of a campaign.

“Parties are not the problem,” he said. “Parties are good parts of the system.”

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