Eugene Scalia, Antonin Scalia: Father And Son Appear Divided Over Campaign Finance Law

Eugene Scalia, son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, thinks the provisions drawn up in the DISCLOSE Act, the legislative response to the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision earlier this year, are misguided, despite the fact that his father has signaled his support for the disclosure provisions.

In an op-ed penned for Politico, Eugene Scalia argues that the DISCLOSE Act, which will face a House vote on Friday, has been formulated to "stifle only corporate speech, while simultaneously enabling unions -- and Democratic incumbents -- to benefit from the enhanced First Amendment freedoms recognized by the court."

Eugene Scalia writes that the legislation, which has specific measures that limit political speech by foreign owned corporations and a now-famous "stand by your ad" requirement, "systematically constrains corporate First Amendment rights, while leaving unions essentially untouched."

The younger Scalia, an outside counsel to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, one of the primary detractors of the DISCLOSE Act, also spoke about the legislation last month.

According to a Politico report from May, Eugene Scalia called the DISCLOSE Act a "surprising acknowledgment that in this area where speech is so important, the aim is actually to prevent people from speaking, rather than encouraging speech during the election cycle."

More from Politico:

Yet supporters of the legislation have pointed out that Scalia's father, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia -- probably the court's harshest judge of campaign finance regulations -- in an April oral argument on an unrelated case signaled his support for disclosure. That case stemmed from an effort to block the disclosure of the names of people who signed a petition to put on the Washington state ballot a referendum overturning that state's domestic partnership law for same-sex couples.