Fort Wayne, Indiana’s Pay-to-Play Law Enjoined

Fort Wayne, Indiana’s pay-to-play ordinance has been permanently enjoined by an Indiana trial court as an impermissible regulation of campaign finance by a municipality under Indiana state law. Witwer v. City of Fort Wayne, Cause No. 02D03-1904-MI-318 (Allen Cnty. Super. Ct. Jun. 11, 2019) (order granting permanent injunction). This decision did not involve any First Amendment analysis.

The city had until July 11, 2019, to appeal the decision, but the city reportedly was unlikely to do so. See Darrin Wright, Fort Wayne “unlikely” to appeal “Pay-to-Play law” ruling, WOWO.COM (Jun. 26, 2019), https://www.wowo.com/fort-wayne-unlikely-to-appeal-pay-to-play-law-ruling/.