A federal court has ruled unconstitutional an attempt by New Mexico politicians to regulate the political free speech of activists working to hold their elected officials accountable to the people.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth District in Denver, Colo., ruled that New Mexico Youth Organized could not be classified as a political organization subject to government regulation simply because it advocates political issues and educates the public on how lawmakers vote on those issues.

"The Tenth Circuit's holding is significant," explains a statement from The James Madison Center for Free Speech, which filed an amicus brief in the case, "because it limits government's ability to regulate organizations as full-fledged political committees, thereby imposing on them all the burdens – including registration, extensive recordkeeping requirements and extensive reporting requirements – that go along with being a political committee.

"As the Supreme Court has explained, these burdens are so onerous that many organizations, rather than complying with them, will just forego their political speech," the Center explains. "This is at odds with the Supreme Court's repeated holdings that political speech is at the very core of what the First Amendment protects."

Read complete article at WND.