Ohio can ban green card holders and foreign nationals from donating to statewide ballot campaigns without violating the First Amendment, a federal appeals court ruled.

Ohio can enforce the ban while a lawsuit challenging it is pending, a divided Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled on Sept. 16. The decision reverses an earlier ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Watson, who concluded that the ban violated the First Amendment rights of green card holders.

In 2024, Ohio lawmakers passed the ban on foreign donations to ballot campaigns in the same bill that allowed then-President Joe Biden to make the Democratic ballot in the Buckeye State . Ohio already bans non-citizens from donating to candidates.

The law was a reaction to Ohio's successful 2023 abortion rights a

See Full Page