South Dakota taxpayers will pay nearly $115,000 in lawyer fees to plaintiffs who challenged an initiated measure that prohibited ballot question committees from accepting out-of-state money.
The measure, approved by the state’s voters in 2018, was pushed by legislators unhappy with what they saw as outside interference in putting political questions on the ballot.
U.S. District Judge Charles Kornmann struck the measure down last Thursday as unconstitutional. Kornmann says taxpayers should pay the attorney fees; the same taxpayers who violated the U.S. Constitution when they approved the measure. It would have gone into effect on July 1.
