On October 18, the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals heard arguments to keep or overturn the permanent injunctions prohibiting certain portions of state campaign finance and ethics law from being enforced.

In 2017, U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman ruled the prohibition on lobbyists providing gifts and campaign contributions to lawmakers was unconstitutional.

The Kentucky Registry of Election Finance and the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission argued the campaign finance revisions are critical and do not eliminate speech but merely channel speech.

The plaintiffs argued the judgement was proper because the Legislature determined restrictions based on who the speaker was.