Chamber Appeals Texas Court's Contempt Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Chamber of Commerce filed a friend-of-the-court brief challenging a Texas district court's decision that three employees of the Texas Association of Business were in contempt for refusing to answer a grand jury's questions about the organization's electioneering activities.

"The First Amendment free speech and associational rights of the Texas business community are being impermissibly threatened here," said Steven A. Bokat, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber's Litigation Center. "Our legal system is based on the principle that people are innocent until proven guilty. By holding these people in contempt for failing to disclose information about their speech without first confirming that their remarks did, in fact, constitute express advocacy, that principle has been violated."

In a case with far-reaching free speech implications for the business community, the National Chamber Litigation Center – the public policy legal arm of the U.S. Chamber – filed an amicus brief questioning whether the 167 District Court of Travis County, Texas, properly entered a judgment of contempt and commitment orders.

The district court had originally held three Texas Association of Business employees in contempt for failing to answer grand jury questions about their association's mailings and activities. The grand jury is investigating whether the association employees violated a Texas law that forbids corporations from spending money on electioneering.

According to the Chamber's brief, the court did not properly determine whether the employees' actions were protected speech under electoral advocacy provisions.

The issues at stake in this case directly concern the Chamber and its members. The Chamber is committed to ensuring the robust competition in the marketplace for ideas that results when voters are afforded access to relevant information about candidates.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector and region.

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